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Tuesday, July 21, 2026

A map shows the states with the best and worst public schools, based on a new report that analyzed multiple aspects of state education systems. However, several education experts have cautioned against placing too much stock in such rankings.

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... In its 2026 ranking, World Population Review listed New York as the state with the best public schools in the nation. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Illinois rounded out the top five. On the other end of the spectrum, Arizona ranked at last. Alaska, Nevada, Oklahoma and New Mexico also ranked among the states with the worst public schools.

The report's ranking was based on four categories: K-12 performance, such as graduation rates and test scores; school funding and resources; higher education quality; and school safety. ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-07-21 01:18 PM | Reply

The regime is not in the least bit interested in education but, rather, threatened by it.

#2 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-07-21 01:20 PM | Reply

It's nonsense to say which state when within the states huge disparities exist between school districts.

#3 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-07-21 01:23 PM | Reply

The more educated a person is, the more they vote for Dems over Repubs.

Which is why MAGA hates edumacation.

#4 | Posted by Corky at 2026-07-21 05:44 PM | Reply

In order for someone to believe education is a threat to you or your ideology, you'd have to be a little educated to actually understand that.

You can't be too dumb to know enough to hate education. You have to be smart enough to see education as a threat.

Also, is it a belief that states choose their school performances?

Because if you do, then you accept that cities choose all of their performances.

crime, poverty, etc.....all the problems that plague portions of all major cities. It's not that simple, IMO.

Anyway, Like with quality of life issues.....it's too broad to define it by state. It's too different between urban and rural areas even in the same state.

Johnson County Kansas has pretty highly ranked schools.....but...duh, they are in Kansas....so.....bad schools.....

Is this where people start shitting on private schools again?

#5 | Posted by eberly at 2026-07-21 05:53 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

Johnson County Kansas has pretty highly ranked schools.....but...duh, they are in Kansas....so.....bad schools.....

Is this where people start shitting on private schools again?

#5 | Posted by eberly

The Shawnee Mission school district in NE JoCo was one of the best in the country when I attended, early '70s.
Then, consolidation with the rest of the county happened and Republican religious nuts took over the Board of Ed.

#6 | Posted by morris at 2026-07-21 07:00 PM | Reply

Slave holders didn't want slaves to be literate.

It's easier to control uneducated people because they don't have the ability to make broad generalizations unless they have access to more information.

Preventing them from getting that information is the goal.

The Internet gives everyone access to information.

AI corrupts that information so it's often inaccurate.

Is this a feature or a Bug?

#7 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2026-07-21 07:17 PM | Reply

You have to be smart enough to see education as a threat.
#5 | Posted by eberly

I'd love it if you were right.
Unfortunately, all you need to see education as a threat is: To fear smart people.

That's why Conservatives love pointing out that educated people lean left.
Because leaning left is what the scary Socialists and Communists do.

#8 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-07-21 07:25 PM | Reply

6

Olathe, Blue Valley, and Shawnee Mission are all at the top.

#9 | Posted by eberly at 2026-07-21 07:33 PM | Reply

Private schools are a fucking racket. No wonder Beverly pimps White privilege.

#10 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-07-22 07:08 AM | Reply

Private schools can discriminate, while public schools take everyone. What a fucking cunt

#11 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-07-22 07:08 AM | Reply

I suppose it's true idiots fear smart people but I'm not sure it's "fear" that drives the behavior of idiots.

They're.....idiots afterall.

They loathe smarter, more successful people. They believe anybody who has done better than themselves was born on 3rd base, had their advantages and excuses their own bad choices away with comments like that.

Look at this place as a great example. Hell, even this very thread.

But really it's just people crying over not getting what they want. They expect to be fed what they want, with zero effort on their part.

And keep crying over the results.

#12 | Posted by eberly at 2026-07-22 08:36 AM | Reply

Wrong again, as usual.

#13 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-07-22 09:03 AM | Reply

"You can't be too dumb to know enough to hate education. You have to be smart enough to see education as a threat."

--Eberly

Wrong. You only need to be brought up in a house where the only book is an unread Bible.

#14 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2026-07-22 10:18 AM | Reply

And we're now into the second generation of white Americans brought up that way, almost intentionally.

Which is where immigrants can help immensely. I frankly am not enthused by what I see in the Eurodescendant workforce ethic of 20-year-olds.

#15 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2026-07-22 10:21 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

-I frankly am not enthused by what I see in the Eurodescendant workforce ethic of 20-year-olds.

But that's been the viewpoint of people your age towards the 20 year olds for at least the last 50 years.

IOW, 60-70 year olds have been scared of 20 year olds for a long long time.

-You only need to be brought up in a house where the only book is an unread Bible.

Are you of the opinion that's a lot of houses? And to be more specific.....houses where people vote?

I know many republicans in office. State level and a few at the Federal level.

I don't think it's as simple as some here need it to be....that if there is an "R" after your name, then you view education as a threat.

Certainly that's a stretch if the republican in office has a very good education themselves and realizes the benefit. Is it an assumption that republican is sinister enough to know the value of an education so to cut support of education, it ensures a dumb and ignorant constituency and a solid base to keep where you want them?

I'm not saying you're wrong...just clarifying what you mean when "MAGA hates edumacation" type comments are thrown out.

#16 | Posted by eberly at 2026-07-22 10:37 AM | Reply

what you mean when "MAGA hates edumacation" type comments are thrown out.

Generalization and strawman alert.

-You only need to be brought up in a house where the only book is an unread Bible.
Are you of the opinion that's a lot of houses? And to be more specific.....houses where people vote?

As of 2008, yes. Absolutely. More and more.

But that's been the viewpoint of people your age towards the 20 year olds for at least the last 50 years

Yeah, but that's also the opinion of my 30-year-olds toward the 20-year-olds they're seeing coming up through the ranks and having to train.

Case in point: I've hired a college student to work with me. Totally digital upbringing. I'll ask her to search for a term, and she can't find it after minutes. It takes me a second. I give her my passwords and logins to different sites and say explicitly, "Use this. Not Google summaries."

What do I get? "Among the first 10 search returns."

Sure, it's somewhat of a personnel issue. But this kid isn't stupid. At least she knows how to show up to work.

#17 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2026-07-22 10:42 AM | Reply

Certainly that's a stretch if the republican in office has a very good education themselves and realizes the benefit. Is it an assumption that republican is sinister enough to know the value of an education so to cut support of education, it ensures a dumb and ignorant constituency and a solid base to keep where you want them?

Republicans in governors' and US senators' offices and in Cabinet positions these days have nice Ivy League degrees and are doing exactly that.

#18 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2026-07-22 10:47 AM | Reply

It's not an assumption. What does the scoreboard say?

#19 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2026-07-22 10:47 AM | Reply

Like most of you, I have a viewpoint on this issue that's carved in part by my personal experiences.

My parents were not educated. I'm the youngest of 5......none of my older siblings had an education beyond high school.

I had to truly embrace education for myself because nobody in my family understood the value of it. My parents wanted the best for me but they didn't understand the value of an education beyond that of say a Doctor or Dentist or some profession that outright required a certain kind of education. THAT they understood.

But the value of a business degree and getting a job in sales and develop an expertise in something (like commercial insurance)?

None of them understood that. They were clearly envious of anybody who did well (sans doctors, dentists, etc) and dismissed their success as being political, connections, luck, inheritance, etc....but no credit given to an education. They just couldn't make the connection.

I'm rambling here but just being open and transparent.

#20 | Posted by eberly at 2026-07-22 10:50 AM | Reply

-Generalization and strawman alert.

Is that for Corky who made the generalizing statement?

As to everything else you responded with.....thank you for being calm and rational.

"It's not an assumption".

that was a poor term to use. I should have said "assertion".

#21 | Posted by eberly at 2026-07-22 11:27 AM | Reply

"They loathe smarter, more successful people. They believe anybody who has done better than themselves was born on 3rd base, had their advantages and excuses their own bad choices away with comments like that."

Eberly, you mean these people?

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate, and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, and they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
--Barack Obama

#22 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-07-22 11:38 AM | Reply

I'm not sure it's "fear" that drives the behavior of idiots.
#12 | Posted by eberly

IOW, 60-70 year olds have been scared of 20 year olds for a long long time.
#16 | Posted by eberly

^
What a worthless commenter you are.

#23 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-07-22 11:42 AM | Reply

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