Red states dominate this list of individual top high schools... how do these states do in an overall education ranking? Not as well...
See the US News and world report rankings...
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/how-states-compare
Considering the recent news about the state of education in Baltimore City, it speaks to the overall strength of educational standards in Maryland, that despite Baltimore it came in first.
OK. You make a great point.