Florida Ranks High on Education Freedom Report Card, But is Your State Struggling?
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has another reason to brag about the Sunshine State.
Staff at the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation this week published a report that ranks states by their level of freedom in public education, factoring school choice, transparency, regulatory freedom, and spending.
Florida ranked No. 1.
“Parents are rightly upset when schools indoctrinate their kids with woke racial and gender ideologies that do not reflect their values and contradict the ideals that make our republic great. School lockdowns contributed to greater mental health problems among students and forced masking disrupted learning,” according to an email that Heritage staff sent followers on Friday as they announced the report.
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“Parents are fed up with these oppressive and divisive policies coupled with lower achievement. The [COVID-19] pandemic made it abundantly clear that families need more education options than our rigid district school systems offer or education elitists allow.”
Heritage’s rankings (from best to worst) include:
- Florida
- Arizona
- Idaho
- Indiana
- South Dakota
- Mississippi
- West Virginia
- Montana
- Louisiana
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Texas
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- North Carolina
- Alabama
- Missouri
- Oklahoma
- New Hampshire
- Virginia
- Wyoming
- Iowa
- South Carolina
- Vermont
- Nevada
- Maine
- Michigan
- Nebraska
- California
- Kentucky
- Delaware
- Wisconsin
- Colorado
- Ohio
- North Dakota
- Kansas
- Pennsylvania
- New Mexico
- Minnesota
- Oregon
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Washington State
- Rhode Island
- Alaska
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- Maryland
- New Jersey
- New York State
- District of Columbia
Heritage ranked Florida as “a state that embraces education freedom, respects parents’ rights, and provides a decent return on investment for taxpayers.” Heritage credited Arizona for its recently expanded education savings account (ESA) program.
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But Heritage also said New Jersey, New York, and the District of Columbia do little to provide transparency, accountability, and choice to families.
Heritage staff members said on their website that they formulate and promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
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