Arizona’s public education system has maintained its dead-last ranking in a survey of all 50 states for the second year in a row.
The rankings, released last week by Consumer Affairs, a product information and research company, scored states by evaluating graduation rates, standardized test scores, funding levels, class size, quality of higher education and safety.
Arizona scored among the worst on all of those metrics except for higher education. The Grand Canyon State was ranked dead last for public school funding, 49th for student performance and 47th for school safety. The state’s colleges and universities fared comparatively better, ranking 35th in the nation.
Contributing to Arizona’s poor rankings were its crowded classrooms, with an average student to teacher ratio of 23-to-1, along with its worst-in-the-nation 78% high school graduation rate.
Consumer Affairs noted the state’s “strong culture around school choice” in its report, highlighting its school voucher program that was expanded in 2022 to be available to all K-12 students in the state.
The report highlighted the cost of the program, which is expected to reach $1 billion this school year with more than 92,000 students enrolled.