September 10, 2014 4:03 PM

Grusendorf: Judge Dietz Erred –- Money alone is no solution

Supremes overturned him on two of three major conclusions in 2006 and are likely to do so again

Having sat through the both of the recent school finance trials I gained great respect for the intellect of Judge Dietz. However, he gravely missed the mark in his recent school finance ruling. The likelihood of his decision standing on appeal is slim. Just as the Texas Supreme Court ignored most of his findings of fact in the last round of school finance litigation, they will likely do so again.

In 2006 the high court overturned Judge Dietz on both big issues -adequacy and equity. They only allowed districts a minor victory on the state property tax issue thereby enabling them to recover legal fees. The Texas Supreme Court refused to tell the legislature they had to spend more money on education.

On February 4, 2013 Judge Dietz said from the bench that he and I come from the opposite ends of the political spectrum. Since I’m very conservative, the Judge obviously considers himself to be very liberal. Having heard all the same evidence as the Judge, I have a very different interpretation of the evidence in this case. In my opinion, the state presented a compelling case on both the adequacy and equity issues. Further, from my perspective the evidence was overwhelming regarding the efficiency issue –which the Judge refused to give serious consideration.
The rest of Kent Grusendorf's column can be found in today's R&D Department.

By Kent Grusendorf