For the second year in a row, Florida was named the top state for education, according to the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report released on Tuesday.
The publication said Florida's ranking was “mainly due to some strong indicators in higher education, not to the fact that Florida still performs quite well in the K-12 category.”
The recognition follows a period of controversial changes over the past two legislative sessions in a system that includes 12 public universities and 28 state colleges and universities, as Gov. Ron DeSantis and lawmakers banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs on campuses, approved a bill regulating campus bathrooms based on gender, removed sociology from the list of required courses and weakened tenure protections for faculty.
In a separate U.S. News ranking, Florida ranked first just for higher education for the eighth straight year. The state's college graduation rate is the second highest in the nation, and it has the lowest average tuition and fees in the state, the group said.
The state ranks 26th in the average amount of federal student loan debt held by young adults and 25th in the percentage of people 25 and older who have earned at least an associate's degree.
Many of Florida's public universities have climbed the rankings in recent years. The University of Florida dropped to No. 6 in U.S. News' public university rankings in September after being named in the top five for two consecutive years. The university was recognized last week by Forbes magazine as one of the 10 public “New Ivy League” schools.
“Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have prioritized higher education, ensuring universities have the resources and support they need to focus on academic excellence and provide a safe learning environment for all students,” State University System Chancellor Ray Rodriguez said in a news release.
Rodriguez said the state increased funding for the state university system by $1 billion last year.
Meera Sitaram, president of the University of Florida faculty union, praised the state's investments in higher education that have kept tuition low, but she said metrics don't tell the whole story, and the current climate around higher education in the state could be damaging to the education students receive.
“The quality of education and what students actually learn has a lot to do with culture, values, academic freedom,” she said. “Academic freedom is a fundamental value, an absolute foundation. Without academic freedom, everything falls apart. There can be no education. There can be no democracy.”
Jessica Magnani, president of the St. Petersburg College faculty union, said the rankings are a testament to the hard work of educators across the state, but that teacher and professor salaries have not kept pace with either the rising rankings or the rising cost of living.
At St. Petersburg College, she said, the starting salary for a full-time faculty member is $39,000. Florida was recently ranked second to the bottom among all states for faculty salaries.
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She also questions whether the state can maintain its ranking for years to come. “I think we have yet to see the results of the legislation that was recently passed,” she says.
In K-12 education, the state ranked 10th this year, according to U.S. News.
The state ranked fifth among states in college readiness, 12th in kindergarten enrollment and 19th in high school graduation rate.
Florida ranked 21st in reading proficiency on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation's report card. The state also ranked 32nd in math on the same assessment.
Utah ranked second as the best-educated state overall, with Massachusetts coming in third.
Divya Kumar covers higher education for the Tampa Bay Times in partnership with Open Campus.
