The resource is the Index of State Education Freedom from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.
After publishing an annual “Report Card” on education for almost 25 years, ALEC spokesman Andrew Handel says the education movement has changed and progressed over the years. A better focus for ALEC, he says, is how legislatures are adopting and defending “education freedom” in their states.
“We have seen a number of different states implement programs that are universal [and] available to all students,” he explains. “So with all that movement, we thought this was the time to re-imagine that Report Card and now we have this Index of State Education Freedom."
In its state-by-state ranking, the top fives states respectively are Florida, Arkansas, Indiana, Arizona, and Iowa.
Nobody should be surprised Florida tops the list, Handel says, but Arkansas jumped after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the LEARNS Act.
Arizona and Iowa showed up on the list after approving education savings accounts, he says.
The bottom five states are North Dakota, Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts at 50.
