- Florida is #1 state in educationsays the annual ranking of US News & World Report.
- DeSantis has made education policy one of his top priorities following backlash against curriculum bans.
- The state teachers’ union has warned that Florida’s schools won’t stay at the top level.
During his tenure, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has been proactive in making far-reaching changes to Florida’s education policy, including curricula, diversity initiatives, and leadership overhauls.
He frequently faces external backlash against such moves, including from Democratic governors.But Tuesday, Florida 1st place in education As part of US News & World Report’s annual Best States rankings. He was No. 3 in last year’s rankings, replacing his former No. 1 New Jersey and his No. 2 Massachusetts.
As governor, DeSantis moved to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion programs from higher education. He also replaced the leadership of New College of Florida, a public liberal arts school in Sarasota. These and other factors that generated national headlines and resistance to DeSantis, such as the removal of books from school libraries and restrictions on teaching methods for LGBTQ topics, were not measured in US News rankings.
Instead, Florida ranks #1 for higher education because, in addition to ranking #1 for education overall, it has low tuition and debt and a high college graduation rate. is.
At press conferences across Florida, DeSantis often boast About how he stabilized public college costs by refusing to raise tuition, with the support of a Republican-controlled Congress. He also told certain students with grandparents in Florida, Receive in-state tuition.
DeSantis’ education agenda has attracted a lot of attention from conservatives and backlash from liberals, and polls for the 2024 Republican presidential primary have consistently placed the governor second only to former President Donald Trump. It helps to be ranked
DeSantis has not announced whether he will run, but is widely expected to begin his campaign after the Florida legislative session ends this month.
Alex Lanfranconi, spokesman for the Florida Department of Education, told an insider that US News’ results were “not surprising.”
“Governor Ron DeSantis removed the common core, protected parental rights, raised historic teacher salaries, abolished indoctrination awakened from the classroom, and exposed DEI fraud in higher education.” It speaks for itself: Florida’s education model works.”
State rankings for higher education, released Tuesday, are separate from the well-known US News Best Colleges. received varying degrees of criticism over the years still widely used Depends on the applicant and his/her family.
Students at the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Higher Studies Wolfson Campus protest during a statewide strike on April 21, 2023 in Miami, Florida. Students join others statewide for school strikes in protest at what they say is an attack on educational freedom by Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republican-dominated Congress. Did.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Florida ranks 14th in elementary school rankings
Looking at Pre-K-12, Florida’s US News ranking scored solidly in high school graduation rates, but added metrics like college readiness, reading and math scores, and preschool enrollment rates. The state came 14th overall.
US News spokeswoman Janet Perez Colby told Insider that the ranking didn’t take into account pandemic-related factors, such as when schools reopened. DeSantis has made the opening an important platform for the 2022 reelection race and his tour of the national book.
“Florida was a haven for sanity when the world went crazy,” DeSantis often says.
DeSantis’ other most famous educational policy includes the bill he signed into law limiting the way race, gender and sexuality were taught in public schools. He defended the change on the grounds that parents should have a say in what their children learn, but it caused confusion in certain districts.
The DeSantis administration also rejected math books on the grounds of “indoctrination” and also an AP course on African-American history, which DeSantis said had imposed a “political challenge” with content on queer theory and prison abolition. I refused.
The governor also expanded vouchers for families to pay for private or charter schools, but Florida public school educators lament lack of funding and staffing.
Andrew Spurr, president of the Florida Education Association, slammed the U.S. News analysis as a “narrow view of education” and predicted that curricula restrictions and book removals would “impact student performance for years to come.” bottom. Florida ranks her 44th in the United States for spending per student in public schools, according to the Florida Education Association, the state’s teachers’ union.
Some of the other factors measured by US news rankings were that the DeSantis administration considering shopping As an alternative to standardized testing.
“Governor DeSantis may use this ranking as a badge of political honor, but his own actions over the past two years are likely to bring Florida down,” Spare said.
Sunshine State came in 10th in the ranking of the best states, taking into account indicators such as crime, economy and healthcare, taking 17th, 7th and 27th respectively. US News ranked Utah as the best state in the United States, out of over 70 metrics.
Florida’s worst ranking is 46th, with “chanceaffordability, financial mobility, and racial and gender equality.