Voice in the Wilderness

The Tuesday, November 29 edition of the Wall Street Journal featured an editorial on Texas school finance. Says the WSJ:

But what was surprising and welcome was the Court's unanimous ruling that the Texas school system, which spends nearly $10,000 per student, satisfies the funding "adequacy" requirements of the state constitution.

The court says that Texas does not need to spend any more money per student than it is already spending. In other words, the inevitable chorus from the various constituencies of the Left for more spending is not valid. Which means we can get back to the question I raised in my previous post on this topic: Where is the money going and why are we spending it? The WSJ continues:

Most remarkable of all was the court's declaration that "more money does not guarantee better schools or more educated students." Think about that one for a second. To our knowledge, this is the first time anywhere in the country that the judiciary has flatly rejected the core doctrine of the education establishment that more dollars equal better classroom performance.

"...more money does not guarantee better schools or more educated students." There may be hope for the judiciary after all. This ruling provides air cover for a debate on the bigger issue of what makes for a truly effective education.

The Texas Supreme Court has handed the Leadership a head start on properly framing the school finance debate. Will they follow through?