New Report Gives Pennsylvania a C Grade for Its Support of Public Schools
From the Bucks County Beacon
According to a recent report, Pennsylvania ranks in the mediocre middle when it comes to how well states support public education. The commonwealth scores a solid C for a grade, tied with Maryland for 19th place in the rankings.
The report big picture
The report is “Public School in America: Measuring Each State’s Commitment to Democratically Governed Schools,” published by the Network for Public Education. NPE is an advocacy group the works to preserve, promote, improve and strengthen the nation’s public schools. NPE was founded in 2013 by education historian and scholar Diane Ravitch and public school teacher Anthony Cody; its president is Carol Burris, an award winning principal from New York State.
The report takes a state-by-state look at the extent of privatization and whether charter and voucher laws promote or discourage equity, responsibility, transparency, and accountability. The report also checks to see what kinds of guardrails are in place to protect students and taxpayers from discrimination, corruption, and fraud.
The report also looks at how well each state funds its public schools, how well it protects students who are being homeschooled, and how many restrictive laws limit the freedom to teach and learn.
Of the 50 states (plus the District of Columbia), five states earned an A grade. Thirteen were awarded a B. Nine states, including Pennsylvania, earned a C. Seventeen states rated an F, earning less than half of the available points in the scoring system.
The top five states are North Dakota, Connecticut, Vermont, Illinois and Nebraska; at the bottom of the heap are Arkansas, North Carolina, Utah, Arizona, and in last place, Florida. With 111 points possible, North Dakota scored 98; Florida scored 19.
Out of 111 points, Pennsylvania scored 76.
How did Pennsylvania do in each of the categories?