Critics of Seattle’s math program say this is roughly what the city got for its investments.Last week, Danny Westneat said that critics of “new math” were throwing a Hail Mary by trying to get a judge to tell the school board to buy new textbooks. Today, their prayers were answered in King County Superior Court when a judge ordered the district to run another play.At issue was how the county teaches its students math. On one side, the district argued in favor of a curriculum called Discovering Math, which promotes a more inquiry- and language-based style of learning. On the other were opponents like University of Washington atmospheric science superstar Cliff Mass, who said decades of “new math” instruction had left some of his freshman students so lacking in arithmetic skills they couldn’t even divide.In her ruling today, Judge Julie Spector noted that the state’s Board of Education had declared Discovering “mathematically unsound” and reiterated the point made by opponents that those kids just learning English were especially harmed by the new form of instruction.The district picked the “Discovering” series last May, spending $1.2 million on the books. In a statement released today, a Seattle Public Schools spokeperson called the ruling a “very surprising decision” and said the district is “evaluating its next steps.”Mass was similarly surprised. And delighted.”We weren’t sure we were going to succeed,” he says. “But it opens up the next step, and that is to have the Seattle school district re-evaluate their math textbooks. Starting at the high school level and hopefully continuing on down.”The professor says he’s on a number of math-based listservs with professionals from around the country. And far from being contained within Jet City, he predicts that today’s decision could have far-reaching effects.”This could have a national influence,” he says. “Maybe I’m optimistic, but I think tomorrow this push back against “Discovery math” will be discussed all over the U.S.”