2019’s States with the Best & Worst School Systems

wallethub ^ | july 29,2019 | Adam McCann

[NoLibZone]

Unlike other research that focuses primarily on academic outcomes or school finance, WalletHub’s analysis takes a more comprehensive approach. It accounts for performance, funding, safety, class size and instructor credentials. To determine the top-performing school systems in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 29 key metrics. Read on for our findings, expert insight from a panel of researchers and a full description of our methodology.

Public School Ranking by State

Overall Rank (1 = Best)	State	Total Score	‘Quality’ Rank	‘Safety’ Rank
1	Massachusetts	67.85	2	1
2	New Jersey	64.78	1	11
3	Connecticut	62.36	3	12
4	Virginia	61.42	7	2
5	Vermont	60.71	6	4
6	Minnesota	58.98	4	23
7	New Hampshire	58.93	9	6
8	Nebraska	57.17	11	7
9	North Dakota	56.81	5	43
10	Wyoming	56.76	8	29
11	Wisconsin	56.57	10	27
12	Delaware	55.10	22	3
13	Kentucky	54.86	13	18
14	Iowa	54.45	12	33
15	Maine	54.36	20	5
16	Illinois	54.24	14	30
17	Colorado	53.49	17	10
18	Rhode Island	53.48	19	9
19	Maryland	53.04	15	17
20	Kansas	52.65	18	16
21	South Dakota	52.50	16	25
22	Indiana	51.42	21	28
23	Utah	51.20	24	13
24	New York	51.07	23	14
25	Montana	49.33	25	36
26	Florida	49.05	28	20
27	Pennsylvania	48.77	26	35
28	Ohio	47.98	30	19
29	Washington	47.67	31	8
30	Missouri	47.14	27	44
31	North Carolina	46.97	29	39
32	Idaho	46.56	35	22
33	Texas	46.44	33	31
34	Tennessee	45.98	36	26
35	Georgia	45.66	34	38
36	Hawaii	44.74	38	32
37	Michigan	44.15	32	49
38	California	42.43	40	37
39	South Carolina	41.67	39	41
40	Oklahoma	41.03	45	15
41	Arkansas	40.67	37	50
42	Alaska	40.21	46	21
43	Nevada	40.16	42	40
44	Oregon	39.43	41	46
45	District of Columbia	38.94	43	48
46	Alabama	38.47	44	47
47	West Virginia	37.86	48	24
48	Mississippi	37.40	47	42
49	Arizona	34.61	50	34
50	Louisiana	29.93	49	51
51	New Mexico	28.81	51	45

[Dilbert San Diego]

What I was trying to say, perhaps not clearly, is that the best schools in New Mexico would be superior to the worst schools in Massachusetts. And that these statewide rankings are questionable to me, because of such variation within states in the quality of schools in different communities.

[NorthMountain]

They’re all Big Government socialist indoctrination centers.

Abolish government schools.

[Gritty]

It doesn't matter which State you are in. Public education sucks. At best, it is mediocre.

Government "anything" generally sucks. Even the best of it (the military) is bloated, bureaucratic, and riddled with crushingly stupid and unnecessary politically correct rules which hamper effectiveness.