Arizona ranked 3rd-worst public education system in nation

PHOENIX — A personal finance website says Arizona is one of the worst states for public education.

WalletHub ranked Arizona as the No. 49 state for public education out of the 50 states plus Washington D.C.

The website analyzed two key metrics — quality and safety — to determine a state’s position.

“We’ve got a long way to go to meet our statewide goals and not only to be competitive nationally, but internationally,” Christine Thompson, president and CEO of Expect More Arizona, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Monday.

Arizona performed especially poorly in the quality metric, ranking as the No. 50 state.

The metric took into account subcategories such as median SAT and ACT scores, pupil-to-teacher ratio and dropout rate.

The state also had the No. 48 dropout rate.

Arizona had the nation’s worst pupil-to-teacher ratio in the nation, according to data WalletHub analyzed.

“I think folks really understand that education unlocks the potential of people and their communities, and that education is really tied to the success of our communities,” Thompson said.

Arizona didn’t fare as bad in the safety metric, finishing as the No. 34 state.

Massachusetts was ranked as the state with the best public education system while New Mexico was the worst.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ashley Flood contributed to this report.

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