Report card day. From elementary school to high school, the release of report cards still strikes fear, joy, and every emotion in between in the hearts of students.
But The Heritage Foundation has just flipped the script on report cards by ranking states, not students, on education freedom. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)
Heritage’s Education Freedom Report Card is a brand new resource that ranks states based on four categories: school choice, transparency, regulatory freedom, and spending.
Florida, Arizona, and Idaho rank highest for education freedom, while New Jersey, New York, and Washington, D.C. rank at the very bottom.
One of the key factors used to determine a state’s level of education is freedom is families’ access to education choice programs. These are programs that allow education tax dollars to follow a child to the school of his parents’ choice that best meets his education needs.
“Florida does exceptionally well in allowing parents to choose among private, charter, and district schools,” Lindsey Burke, director of Heritage’s Center for Education Policy, said in a prepared statement.
“If you’re looking for a state that supports families when it comes to directing the education of their children while keeping red tape and spending low, look no further than Florida,” Burke said.
On the other end of the list is Washington, D.C, which offers a limited school voucher program that local parents and others fought long and hard to establish and maintain.
Working with then President George W. Bush, Virginia Walden Ford spearheaded the creation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which gives low-income families a chance to send their children to a better school.
On today’s edition of “Problematic Women”, we explain why education freedom matters. Also on today’s show, first lady Jill Biden does not want any books to be banned from school libraries. Plus, Kelsey Bolar describes the painful reality faced by many detransitioners. And as always, we will crown our Problematic Woman of the Week.
Listen to the podcast below: