AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation today released an analysis of the School Finance Trial ruling. The study, “Analysis of the 250th District Court’s 2014 Public Education Opinion,” shows not one performance measure considered by the District Court demonstrated that Texas school districts are fulfilling their task of educating children. The District Court’s opinion assumes more money is the cure for the failure of school districts to provide a good education, yet the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that additional funds are not the solution.
“‘Look how badly we’re doing! Give us more money.’ This was the argument made by many school districts around our state, and District Court Judge John Dietz agreed with it,” said Center for Education Freedom Director Kent Grusendorf. “A decade ago, he ruled that Texas schools need to spend more money. The Supreme Court overturned his decision, ruling that ‘pouring more money into the system’ is not the solution. It’s time for the fundamental reform the Supreme Court asked for 10 years ago. It’s time for parental choice.”
“The District Court ruled that Texas public schools are unconstitutional because they fail our students: 17 percent of all students are college-ready, 25 percent of all students don’t graduate from high school, and the list goes on,” said Center for Education Freedom Policy Analyst Michael Barba. “These and other facts led the District Court to conclude that all performance measures considered at trial demonstrate that Texas public schools are not educating our children. Texas schools need—as the Texas Supreme Court has said—fundamental, systematic, reform.”
The full report can be viewed at: http://txpo.li/analysis-school-finance-trial
The Honorable Kent Grusendorf, Senior Fellow for Education, represented Arlington in the Texas Legislature for twenty years, focusing on education. Serving on the House Public Education Committee and various Select Committees, he played a significant role in crafting legislative responses to the Edgewood I, Edgewood II, Edgewood III, Edgewood IV, and West Orange Cove school-finance court decisions.
Michael Barba is a Policy Analyst at the Center for Education Freedom at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.