Red states lead in national education integrity ratings based on issues like parental rights, DEI, gender and sexuality policies and more, while blue states generally rank toward the bottom, a new report from Defending Education shows.
Director of Government Affairs at Defending Education Dr. Terry Stoops told The Center Square: “If your state is at the top of Defending Education’s rankings, congratulations! You live in a state with public school policies that prioritize sound academics over shameless antics.”
“If your state is at the bottom, then your elected officials have sacrificed educational excellence at the altar of social justice,” Stoops said.
“For parents in bottom-feeder states who value rigor over ridiculousness, the choice is either fight or flight,” Stoops said.
All 50 states plus the District of Columbia were scored for Defending Education’s Rankings on Integrity in State Education (RISE). State rankings are based on the “five major education categories” of gender and sexuality, diversity, equity, and inclusion, parental rights, teacher policies, and foreign influence, according to the report.
Tennessee ranks highest with the best score in Defending Education’s RISE Rankings, followed by Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and Iowa, in that order.
The District of Columbia ranks lowest at spot 51, followed by Illinois, Oregon, California and Rhode Island.
Senior director of strategic initiatives at Defending Education Paul Runko told The Center Square why his organization developed its RISE Rankings.
“Parents can only make the best education decisions for their children when they have transparent information,” Runko said. “That’s why Defending Education created the RISE Rankings.
“For the first time, parents have a single resource to see how their state handles the issues they’ve voiced concerns about over the last five years, empowering them to evaluate local schools and hold leaders accountable at the ballot box,” Runko said.
Besides being ranked overall for education integrity, states are scored individually for each of the “five major education categories” in the RISE report as well
The report stated that the ranking “compares how state governments are handling these issues and what they are doing to protect students and families, and keep public education in the best interest of students.”
Defending Education is an organization that works to restore free speech to education as well as keep political ideologies out of schools.
