Freedom in Education – How Do the States Stack Up?

When it comes to a child’s education, which qualities are the most important to parents? The COVID pandemic shut down many schools across the nation, forcing students to try online learning. This experience exposed flaws to which moms and dads had been oblivious. Two such issues are lack of transparency and a guardian’s right to have a say in certain content or subjects taught to the kids. Well, the Heritage Foundation decided to see which states offer more freedom, and the results might surprise you.

States With the Best Schools for Freedom in Education

The Heritage Foundation just released a new survey, the "Education Freedom Report Card." According to the organization, the goal of this inaugural report is to “spur necessary and lasting reform" by revealing which states are doing well in terms of transparency and parental choice, and which need improvement. The report card assessed four “broad categories,” including school choice, transparency, regulatory freedom, and spending. These states placed in the top positions:

No. 1:  Florida

“Florida is the only state with top-10 ranks in every category,” the report read.

This Republican-run state has been in the news quite a bit lately because of the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Because the law is more about promoting parental rights than its nickname would suggest, it’s no surprise that the Sunshine State received top points for freedom in education.

Transparency - Ranked #1: The foundation credited the state’s rejection of critical race theory (CRT) as a big reason for ranking highest in transparency, as well as a proposal that allows parents and taxpayers the ability to review class assignments before educators can use them in K-12 instruction.

Regulatory Freedom - Ranked #2: “An impressive 42 percent of Florida teachers are alternatively certified, making their way to K–12 classrooms through a means other than a traditional university-based college of education,” the report explained. Anyone with a valid teaching license, no matter which state issued it, can teach in Florida. It also does not use tests aligned with Common Core, a controversial set of educational standards.

However, despite the high ranking, Florida has room for improvement according to Heritage. The main issue is that 42% of school districts have a “chief diversity officer.”

School Choice - Ranked #3: Florida allows parents to choose schools, whether private, district, or charter. Furthermore, the state “offers K-12 education savings accounts that parents can use to customize the education of their eligible children.” There doesn’t seem to be an issue if parents wish to homeschool their kids, Heritage reported.

Spending - Ranked #7: Regarding return on investment (ROI) for education spending, Florida funds $11,043 per student annually in cost-of-living-adjusted terms. It “spends the 48^th most per pupil among states.” Public schools employ 0.93 teachers for every non-teacher, and the unfunded teacher pension liability is 4% of its state GDP.

No. 2: Arizona

School Choice - Ranked #1: Like Florida, Arizona parents have a choice where they send their children. Schools also offer K-12 education savings and the state respects families that homeschool.

Transparency - Ranked #5: Lawmakers chose to reject proposals that would have eliminated CRT (or at least greatly diminished it) and improve transparency, giving Arizona a lower score in this category. However, it currently has a provision to allow parents to review materials, including sex education.

Regulatory Freedom - Ranked #5: About 10% of teachers are “alternatively certified,” and about 20% of the Grand Canyon State’s districts employ a chief diversity officer. Like Florida, it does not use Common Core testing.

Spending - Ranked #13: Arizona spends $10,734 in cost-of living-adjusted terms per year, the 49^th most per pupil compared to other states. It employs 0.84 teachers for every non-teacher, and the unfunded teacher pension liability is at 8.3% of its state’s GDP.

No. 3: Idaho

Spending - Ranked #1: Idaho spends the 50^th most per student, $10,170 in cost-of-living-adjusted terms each year. It has 1.35 teachers for every non-teacher in public schools, and the unfunded teacher pension liability represents 2.8% of its state GDP.

Transparency - Ranked #4: House Bill No. 377 is one of the biggest reasons Idaho placed well in education freedom because, as Heritage explained, “This prohibition on compelled speech protects students from being forced to believe ideas that violate their conscience, such as critical race theory’s false claim that America is irredeemably racist.”

Idaho ranked #20 in school choice and #21 in regulatory freedom, since it still tests in line with Common Core standards.

Education Comparison

The top three states for education freedom have Republican governors, but how do they hold up in other studies? That depends on the criteria used. WalletHub ranked Massachusetts, helmed by Gov. Charlie Baker (R), #1 for education, followed by Connecticut and New Jersey. Instead of focusing on only academic and school finances, the organization said it also used “performance, funding, safety, class size, and instructor credentials” among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Florida, #1 in education freedom according to the Heritage Foundation, ranked 14th here.

US News & World Report conducted its own research and found the blue state of New Jersey to be the best for education, followed by Republican-led Massachusetts and Florida. The study was based on higher education as well as primary, secondary, and pre-K schooling, as reported by the website. “The measures included percentages of adults with associate degrees or higher,” the report explained, “the rates of students completing public four-year and two-year college programs within 150% of the normal time, the average tuition fees for in-state students at public institutions and the average debt load of graduates from public and private colleges.”

New Jersey was popular in some surveys, but it ranked at the bottom of the Heritage Foundation’s report card, claiming position #49. It had the highest spending rate at $20,585 per student and ranked at #44 for transparency because of its insistence on teaching CRT.

After objections to progressive ideology in schools resulted in parents being labeled “domestic terrorists,” education has become a hot-button political issue. Parents are increasingly concerned about transparency and control over what their children are exposed to in the classroom. Is it any surprise that the school choice and homeschool movements have gained momentum?