No matter how loud they screamed, a group of anti-Israel protesters could not disrupt Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) as he delivered a speech at the University of Florida on Wednesday about the illegal protests at college campuses.
In many ways, the incident was a microcosm of the governor’s education policy agenda in the Sunshine State: Tune out the noise and push forward. And this week, the fruits of this approach were once again vindicated as U.S. News & World Report ranked Florida as the best state in the nation for education.
Now the Sunshine State has consistently ranked at or near the top of education rankings among conservative organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, which credits the state for having a number of robust parental rights protections, as well as a universal school choice program. But the U.S. News rankings are proving that even by legacy metrics, the state is providing a model of good education policymaking.
The rankings use several data-driven metrics to rank states by education outcomes. Five metrics pertain to higher education, while another five measure pre-K-12. Driving Florida’s high ranking are three higher education metrics in which the state placed top two in the nation: four- and two-year graduation rates and tuition and fees. The state also placed fifth in the pre-K-12 category of college readiness.
For as much controversy and vitriol as DeSantis has faced from the Left, the rankings have once again vindicated his approach to education policy. It is in this success that the governor has found his revenge for the malicious and dishonest smear campaign that has been waged against him.
That Florida has the lowest tuition prices in the country (despite being one of the most desirable places to live) is nothing short of a remarkable achievement. College costs have ballooned for years, yet the average tuition and fees for an in-state student is $4,613, less than half of the $9,678 national average.
Over the past two years, DeSantis and Republicans in the Florida legislature have waged a war on the education cartel at both the K-12 and college levels and have come out victorious. This achievement is all the more impressive, given the fact that the state has persevered in its quest for education freedom in the face of corporate boycotts and pressure campaigns, as well as legal and administrative efforts by the Biden administration and legacy education organizations such as teachers unions.
As Florida has shown, the key to achieving educational success is by affording institutions, students, and families the freedom to choose from as many options as possible in the ever-growing educational ecosystem while removing blatant political agendas from the classroom and administrative offices.
As soon as children are of school age, parents in Florida are afforded the ability to send them to school wherever they wish, whether it be a public school, a private school, or home school, because the state has embraced school choice. This educational freedom continues through high school because, thanks to the DeSantis education agenda, students are no longer restricted to taking the SAT or the ACT in order to apply to the state’s public universities. Alternatives such as the Classic Learning Test are now treated as equals to the legacy exams and have broadened the range of high-quality options that students can rely on to measure their academic ability fairly.
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That commitment to a better path has extended to higher education, where Florida has reduced administrative bloat and ideological conformity by banning diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucracies and appointed university trustees who are committed to excellence in education rather than political indoctrination. And to insulate Florida schools from overly imposing accrediting agencies, each state university is now required to change accreditors every 10 years.
In three years, the Florida education ecosystem has been entirely remade into one that stresses freedom over bureaucratic control. Detractors can accuse DeSantis and Republicans of destroying education in the state all they want, but the results are clear: When it comes to education, the Sunshine State shines above the rest.
