BlackRock Says ‘Reckless’ Texas Divestment Is Bad for Schools

BlackRock Inc. criticized Texas’s decision to divest $8.5 billion from the asset manager’s funds, calling the move “reckless” and detrimental to the finances of the state’s schools and families.

“Your actions put short-term politics over your long-term fiduciary responsibilities,” Mark McCombe, a BlackRock vice chairman, said in a letter Thursday to Aaron Kinsey, chair of the Texas State Board of Education. “We were dismayed.”

McCombe urged Kinsey and the board to reconsider, arguing that BlackRock has worked with the Texas Permanent School Fund for almost two decades and has produced strong investment performance with competitive fees. The firm’s international ...