Is Florida #1 in Education Like Ron DeSantis Claims?

During Wednesday’s Republican debate in Iowa, Ron DeSantis repeatedly made a perplexing claim, saying his home state of Florida is #1 in education. If that seems suspect, that’s because it is.

This isn’t the first time DeSantis has made this claim. During a press conference in May of 2023, he and other Florida Republicans bragged about Florida being #1 in the nation in education. In a press release earlier that month, Florida’s Department of Education listed the elements that earned it that top spot:

Since Governor DeSantis took office, Florida has prioritized education by providing teachers historic salary increases, ensuring students were able to return to in-person instruction following the COVID-19 pandemic, abolishing woke ideology from the classroom, eliminating Common Core and transitioning to a progress monitoring system for accountability.

That’s right, according to the state’s DOE, part of what makes it number one in education is “abolishing woke ideology from the classroom.” Which is going to spark questions for any reasonable person—specifically, is Florida #1 in education? And according to whom?

Who named Florida #1?

Multiple institutions and agencies produce state rankings for education and loads of other areas. The one that named Florida #1 is US News & World Report, whose metrics have been called “terrible and wrong” by experts in the field.

It’s also important to note that on this same list Florida was ranked #14 in pre-K–12 education and #10 in education overall. It was only named #1 in higher education, which seems strange given DeSantis’ repeated attacks on “wokeness” (meaning basic American history, critical thinking, and any opposition to bigotry) on college campuses.

Indeed, the ranking seems to be based nearly entirely on low tuition fees (which is genuinely a great thing) and the two and four-year college graduation rates. It does not appear to have anything at all to do with the quality of education available in the state of Florida.

(featured image: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)