New study puts Arizona in last place for education in the US

PHOENIX — Arizona’s public school system is worse than other states based on a recent study looking at several metrics related to education.

The Consumer Affairs study looked at K-12 school performance, school funds and resources, quality of higher education and school safety.

“We found that unfortunately [Arizona] ranks poorly in pretty much all the categories that we looked at,” Lauren Jobe with Consumer Affairs said.

Why did Arizona schools rank poorly?

Arizona nearly came in last for school funding, sitting one place ahead of Utah.

It was also in the bottom 10 for higher education quality and school safety.

The state’s highest rank was 40th out of 51 (including the District of Columbia) for overall K-12 performance.

But when all those categories are added up, Arizona ends up in last place, behind Alabama, according to the study.

Jobe said funding is the top issue holding Arizona schools back.

“One of the main drivers behind that was the student-to-teacher ratio, which is the highest in the nation, at 23 students to one teacher,” Jobe said.

Consumer Affairs found Arizona has the seventh-lowest spending per student at around $13,000.

Overall, she says the lowest ranking states shared a few common factors: Overcrowded classrooms, bad testing scores and struggling graduation rates.

“When that foundation isn’t there, all the other things kind of fell off as well,” Jobe said.

The study also shows a mixed bag for public schools when it comes to test scores, with SAT scores in the top 20 but ACT scores in the bottom third.

What other areas did Arizona rank poorly in?

While much of the study looked at education metrics themselves, researchers also considered school safety in the rankings.

One of the main reasons why Arizona scored low in this category, at 45 out of 51, is because the state does not have a dedicated school safety board.

It does have a school safety program, which helps fund police officers, counselors and more on campuses.

However, police shortages in the Valley have made staffing those policing positions a challenge for some schools.

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