Re: “Invest in Dallas’ libraries instead of closing them — Imagine if city fully funded the Dallas system, which does wonders with limited resources and hours,” by Sarah Evans, Sunday Letters.
Imagine, suggests Sarah Evans, chair of Friends of the Dallas Public Library, that Dallas might spend $77 million on its public libraries like San Diego, Calif. I have marveled that a conservative area of California has such a magnificent flagship library downtown as it trimmed to the bone many of its programs but their libraries, not at all.
Perhaps, as I suggested years ago in avoiding a closure of the Eastfield Library of the then-named Dallas County Community College District, in California, they, too, recognize a library is the brain of the community.
Here is the bottom line folks. Either you are world class or you are second class. Enter any Plano Public Library, and you find it populated with people of all ages, income strata and interests. It is highly computerized with tablets available for checkout. Its curated collections capture the eye, the mind and soul of readers and critical thinkers.
Recently I attended a meeting recognizing outstanding contributors to the Dallas community at the Dallas Central Library. The staff could not have been more helpful and there was a plethora of school children wandering the halls on that early Saturday morning summer day. Laughter, love, friendship, community. Priceless.
Stephen Raynor, Dallas
A question about data
Re: “Promise or peril? Initiative tracks key indicators as area transforms,” Sunday news story.
I read with great interest this story concerning the new initiative to study and report on the opportunities that will come from the expected growth in the North Texas area. I was especially interested to read that the project will focus on gathering and presenting data as part of the reporting. As an engineer (now retired), I love to see hard data. I spent a whole career looking at and analyzing data.
A couple of the charts in Sunday’s story particularly caught my attention. Two charts showed a sharp decline in math and reading skills from 2022 to 2024 and a very large drop in eighth grade algebra scores from 2019 to now. But a third chart showed a drastic increase in the number of students who graduate as “college ready.”
It made me wish for a further explanation about that. How can that be? I don’t question the validity of the data, just longed for an explanation. I would love to see a deeper dive into this in a future article by one of your new journalists who could look at it from a workforce readiness or data collection perspective.
John Kelso, Greenville
Invest in future workforce
Re: “Are Texas students on track for job readiness? Workforce advocates concerned educational gaps will limit access to careers that pay a living wage,” Monday news story.
This headline regarding job readiness for Texas students caught my eye. Richardson ISD, as part of their $1.4 billion bond package, hopes to build a stand-alone Career Technical Education Center serving its four high school campuses. Having students gain skills and knowledge for non-traditional career paths will help address the looming shortages in skilled labor.
School districts that allow students to pursue courses like automotive shop, microchip manufacturing, HVAC and other high-demand fields, along with having ongoing partnerships with local businesses, are crucial.
It’s time for both schools and businesses to invest in the future workforce. Seeking talent from outside of Texas is not an option.
Eric Stengel, Richardson
Grant is a valid contract
Re: “More on common sense,” by Olan Knight, Monday Letters.
Knight seems to think the government grants to Harvard University are charitable donations. They are not. They are written, contractual grants signed by all the parties for the university to work on a very specific project for the government. Both the government and the university budget for the entire term of the grant, and often contract with third parties for the necessities to perform on the grant.
How would he feel if a big company hired him under a five-year written contract at a specified salary to do a specific job? In reliance on that contract, he moved to a new location, rented an office, hired staff to help him, bought the equipment he needed to do the job and went to work for the company for a year and a half. Then one day in the middle of his contract period, his employer arbitrarily decided to terminate his employment for no cause whatsoever? Would anyone be surprised if he sought to enforce his contract?
A government grant is a valid written and signed contract of employment just like any other employment contract, and it is enforceable just like any other valid employment contract.
Marc Richman, North Dallas
Keep Texas soldiers home
This is an open letter to Gov. Greg Abbott.
I grew up in San Antonio and still feel connected to Texas although I no longer live there. My father, Harry V. Steel Jr. served in the Texas National Guard and retired as a major general after a long career of service to Texas and its citizens.
He would not only be horrified at the thought of the Texas Guard possibly being deployed for law enforcement purposes in another state; he would be disgusted that the possibility even exists.
The soldiers are under your command, and they have no choice in the matter if you deploy them to another state, but I imagine that many of them don’t believe that it would be right or constitutionally correct for them to go.
Please reconsider your decision to allow Texas National Guardsmen to be used in another state to police that state’s residents, and keep Texas soldiers in Texas.
Thank you.
Becky Steel Marx, Clarksville, Tenn.