A report by The Heritage Foundation reviewed by The Wall Street Journal revealed that Florida leads the nation in educational freedom. The study considered five main categories:
-Availability of choice programs available to schools.
-The ability to compete freely with public institutions.
-Parental decision-making power over their children's education.
-The level of transparency in education.
-The return on states' investment in education.
Congratulations to Florida and @GovRonDeSantis!
🏆 Florida ranks #1 among the states in our new Education Freedom Report Card. https://t.co/406QumOBap pic.twitter.com/e6aAmHhEFJ
- Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) September 8, 2022
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is recognized in the report for his work. The state governor has largely based his legislature on supporting the freedom of parents over their children's education. One of its biggest plans is called: "Students First, Protecting Parents' Rights" which aims to reject federal government impositions and student indoctrination, and to defend parents' rights, as well as the transparency of curricula.
First and last states in the ranking
Florida was the winner among the 50 states, followed by Arizona, Idaho and Indiana. The Heritage Foundation says the Sunshine State is:
The top-ranked state across the board in our 2022 Education Freedom Report is Florida. The Sunshine State embraces educational freedom across the board, does exceptionally well in allowing parents to choose between private, charter and district schools, hosts a strong education system program and ranks third overall in educational options. It ranks first among the states in academic transparency. Among other protections, state lawmakers set a high standard for academic transparency.
It also ranks a respectable seventh in ROI -Return On Investment- of education spending. Families looking for a state that embraces educational freedom, respects parental rights and provides a decent ROI for taxpayers should look no further than Florida.
Regarding Arizona, the report stated, "It ranks second in educational freedom, making it one of the freest states for teachers and students to obtain an education largely free of red tape. Although there is room for improvement."
New Jersey, New York and Washington D.C. took the bottom three spots on the list, as lawmakers refuse to "provide transparency, accountability and choice to families over the education of minors."
Management does not recognize its failures
The Heritage Foundation report comes just as the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress report shows that average scores for nine-year-olds have plummeted 5 points in reading and 7 points in math. The decline in educational outcomes came on the heels of school closures in the spring of 2020 due to the coronavirus.
When asked about the children's low scores, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blamed the Trump Administration for the poor results, and singled out Republican officials for "preventing" schools from reopening earlier. He also brought up the Biden Administration's plan for school funding:
We must repair the damage done by the last Administration.... Republicans did not vote for the American Rescue Plan, in which $130 billion was earmarked for schools to be able to have tutoring and be able to hire more teachers. That was the work of this President and that was the work of the Democrats, that was the work of this Administration.
The American points out that: "Jean-Pierre's statement is not entirely true, since it was the Republican governors who pushed to keep the schools open, taking into account the scientific evidence that revealed the low level of contagion in the academic centers".
