Arizona school systems still among worst in US, per WalletHub

PHOENIX — A personal finance website’s annual ranking of school systems still has Arizona being among the worst in the U.S.

The Grand Canyon State’s public school systems were placed No. 48 in WalletHub’s latest ranking, a spot up from a year ago.

The ranking, which compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is compiled by judging the quality and safety of each.

Arizona was placed at No. 48 for quality, a spot up from last year, and remained the same for safety at No. 34.

Among those two categories were 32 metrics, including dropout rate and pupil-teacher ratio.

Arizona was tied for the highest dropout rate with New Mexico and the District of Columbia, as well as being among the lowest for pupil-teacher ratio.

The state was able to improve on median ACT scores from No. 44 to No. 33 this year and was among the top 20 for the lowest bullying incidence rate and median SAT score.

Arizona held the third-worst ranking on the list for the past three years, with Louisiana now taking that spot.

Massachusetts was again considered to have the best school systems, while New Mexico had the worst.

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