The debate around education in Florida is among the most contentious in America.
The state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has staked his political persona on being an opponent of what he terms the “woke” influence on education policy, even centering his 2024 presidential campaign on the theory that his efforts in the Sunshine State would entice a national audience to vote him into the White House.
Unfortunately for DeSantis, making America Florida did not resonate with Republican voters in states like Iowa and New Hampshire, and he exited the race after running a distant second to former President Donald Trump in the Iowa caucuses.
Florida’s Education Success
In higher education, Florida – which is No. 9 in the overall Best States rankings – posted the second-highest rates of timely graduation among students at public institutions pursuing two- and four-year degrees, respectively. Students attending its public, four-year institutions also faced the lowest average amount in the country for in-state tuition and fees. The state fell in the middle of the pack on two other measures of higher education: the average amount of federal student loan debt held by young adults and the share of those 25 and older in the state with at least an associate degree.
In metrics reflecting pre-K through high school, Florida excelled the most in college readiness – an assessment of the share of 12th-graders who scored highly on the SAT, ACT or both. It was No. 12 for preschool enrollment in the U.S., was tied alongside Illinois with a No. 19 ranking for high school graduation rate, and was No. 21 and No. 32 for eighth-grade reading and math scores, respectively.
“Florida is the No. 1 state in the country for education,” DeSantis said in a mid-April statement upon signing legislation designed to make it easier for underperforming schools to become charter schools, among other things. “By focusing on core academic subjects and rejecting indoctrination in the classroom, we have become a standard-bearer for educational excellence. The legislation I signed today continues to build on Florida’s previous accomplishments.”
Notably, the measure DeSantis signed in April also limited the ability of people whose children are not in a particular school district to object to books used in that district – essentially refining prior legislation signed by DeSantis that’s reportedly fueled a rash of book removals or restrictions in schools.
That and efforts like a DeSantis-backed law nicknamed “Don’t Say Gay” by detractors have helped fuel the firestorm of debate and criticism around education in Florida. The governor also has sought to influence the election of county school board members, limit the kinds of courses that can be taught in the state’s universities, tighten tenure oversight for professors and change the governing board of the New College of Florida, a liberal arts school with a progressive reputation.
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The education metrics used by U.S. News to rank the states tend to focus on aspects of affordability, accessibility and achievement, and the controversial moves DeSantis has made so far may not be reflected there. The data used also can lag behind more recent developments due to when it’s released by a source and to the time needed for analysis. Many education metrics are tied to the year 2022, for example, and policy shifts may take time to play out.
Still, critics contend DeSantis’ moves could have lasting effects.
“The effects may or may not show up in our traditional metrics but I do think there are consequences to what he is doing,” says Jon Valant, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and director of the Brown Center on Education Policy. “Florida is for many students as harsh an environment as we have anywhere.”
Separate from the U.S. News analysis, the most recent data on teacher pay from the National Education Association shows Florida moved down from 48th in teacher pay to 50th among the states, notes Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar, a frequent DeSantis critic.
“In K-12, there is a lot of data out there that shows Florida performs no better than it did 20 years ago,” Spar says, adding that the state was 36th in teacher pay in 2010. That was before two Republican governors – Rick Scott and DeSantis – launched what Spar calls “an all-out assault on public education.”
“When I look at all the factors, I really can’t see Florida leading on education,” he says.
Florida’s Economic Achievements
Aside from education, Florida also particularly excels in the Best States rankings in the economy category, where it moved up six places from 2023 to rank No. 1. Though Florida’s economy is less an area of debate than education, the state has garnered a fair share of related headlines tied to issues like a long-running feud between DeSantis and entertainment giant Disney and an NAACP advisory for Black Americans traveling to the state. A federal appeals court also recently ruled that a DeSantis-championed law targeting diversity training in the workplace violated the Constitution.
In the Best States rankings, strong job and overall economic growth helped lead Florida to its top position in the category. On jobs, the state was No. 2 in the nation with a compound annual growth rate over three years of close to 5%. It topped the nation with a similar rate of GDP growth, at more than 6%.
More recently, Florida in March added 10,400 workers to its payrolls. However, job growth may be cooling, with the state seeing a monthly average of 11,100 jobs added in the first quarter of 2024, down from the 24,500 a month in the fourth quarter of 2023.
“I think the elixir for Florida’s economic growth has been population growth,” says Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting. “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.”
Indeed, data used in the Best States analysis shows Florida saw an average net migration rate over the past three years of 1.68%, second only to Idaho’s 1.8%.
Overall, the state’s population increased by 18% to 22.24 million from 2010 to 2022, while the national population increased by about 8% in the same period.
The lures, as always, include the warm weather, the lack of a state income tax and a perceived lower cost of living – though the latter factor isn’t borne out in Best States data, with Florida ranking No. 38 on the project’s cost of living metric. Then came COVID-19 in 2020 and DeSantis’ move to keep more places open – a potential draw for residents of states with a stricter pandemic response.
“It’s a low-tax, low-cost, low-wage economy,” says Russell Triplett, chair of the economics department at the University of North Florida. Without a constant flow of new residents from other states, Florida’s population would shrink, he adds. Around one-fifth of Florida residents are age 65 or older.
Some of the Sunshine State’s allure may be ebbing, particularly when it comes to the affordability of housing, along with home and auto insurance. Yet while Florida has made strides in diversifying its economy through increased manufacturing as well as growth in the high-tech sector and medical services, key drivers of economic growth remain tourism and migration.
“With the baby boomers moving into retirement, having no state income tax is a big attraction,” Snaith says.
