Ranking was largely based on Florida’s public higher education system, which outperformed other states in metrics such as graduation rates, degree costs, and student debt.
Following an acrimonious legislative session that saw fierce opposition from students and faculty, Florida was named the No. 1 state for education in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking.
The ranking, released this week, was largely based on Florida’s public higher education system, which outperformed other states in metrics such as graduation rates, degree costs, and student debt.
Based on high school graduation rates, preschool enrollment rates, and National Assessment of Educational Progress results, among other factors, the state’s pre-K-12 system ranked 14th.
According to the report, the average Floridian graduated from college with $5,000 less in student debt than the national average, and the high school graduation rate was about 4 percentage points higher than the national average.
New Jersey was second in overall education, followed by Massachusetts, Colorado, Utah, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Connecticut, New York, and Washington. Since 2017, Florida has ranked first in the nation for higher education according to U.S. News. The Florida Department of Education praised Gov. Ron DeSantis in a statement.
“Since Governor DeSantis took office, Florida has prioritised education by providing teachers with historic pay raises, ensuring students were able to return to in-person instruction following the COVID-19 pandemic, eliminating woke ideology from the classroom, eliminating Common Core, and transitioning to a progress monitoring system for accountability,” according to the statement. According to Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, the “Florida education model stands alone as a shining example for all other states to follow.”
However, some education groups across the state objected, citing a number of bills that attempted to legislate what can and cannot be included in the curriculum.
Measures focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at colleges and universities, made it easier to ban books and tightened restrictions on gender and race discussions in the classroom.
The education department’s comments about the rankings, according to Andrew Gothard, president of the state’s largest faculty union, United Faculty of Florida, were “hypocrisy of the highest order.”
Gothard said he was proud of the rankings, but they came “despite, not because of,” the Florida Department of Education, Gov. Ron DeSantis, and his legislative supporters. He claimed that faculty and students deserved credit, but the state treated them as “criminals.”
The Florida Education Association’s president, Andrew Spar, said in a statement that the rankings were based on a “narrow view of education,” but that the governor’s actions to limit content and books would have an impact on the same test scores used in the U.S. News & World Report calculations.
“Gov. DeSantis may see this ranking as a political victory, but his own actions over the last two years will almost certainly drag Florida down,” Spar said.