Florida Comes In 28th On State Education System Rankings

WLRN Public Media | By John O'Connor

Published January 8, 2015 at 12:23 PM EST

Florida earned a C grade on this year's Education Week state rankings, coming in 28th overall.

Florida's earned a C grade and ranked28thoverall on this year's Education Week Quality Counts ratings.

Education Week gave the state strong scores for equity in student achievement. Test results show minority students generally perform better in Florida than other states, and the gap between white and minority students scores is smaller in Florida than other states.

But Education Week took big deductions for what Florida spends on education. Florida earned an F for school spending.

Education Week didn't rank states overall last year, but in 2013 Florida ranked sixth in the nation. The comparison is slightly unfair because Education Week changed the criteria used to rank schools this year.

Massachusetts earned the nation's highest grade with a B, followed by New Jersey and Maryland. Mississippi earned the nation's lowest grade of D, just ahead of Nevada and New Mexico.

Check out the full Education Week Quality Counts report here.