PENSACOLA, Fla. -- New data from "U.S. News & World Report" ranks Florida #1 in the nation for education.
WEAR News examined the report and spoke with a state leader in education who says the ranking should serve as a wake-up call to lawmakers.
Through the report, the Florida Department of Education is highlighting the state's graduation rate and low tuition costs.
Florida ranks #1 in higher education and #14 in PreK-12.
No other states collectively matched up to these rankings, according to "U.S. News & World Report."
But of the five metrics used for PreK-12, Florida hits the Top 10 just once, for graduation rate.
And while the state boasts a 90.2% high school graduation rate, 3% above the national average here locally, Walton County was the nearest school district to surpass that number last year.
8th grade test scores were also used as a metric, where Florida ranked 32nd in Math and 21st in Reading.
The report comes as the Department of Education deals with the fate of the failing Warrington Middle School in Escambia County.
"Obviously being #1 in the nation is a good thing when it comes to education, but if you dig a little deeper into that report, you see the things that made us #1," Andrew Spar, Florida Education Association president said.
The Florida Education Association is the state's largest teachers union, with more than 150,000 members.
Spar says what's made Florida #1 is being stripped away.
"This report in a lot of respects is good news but it's a wake up call to lawmakers and to the governor who has been singularly been trying to change how we operate our public schools in Florida," Spar said.
The latest piece of legislation aims to expand Florida's Parental Rights in Education law, that now prohibits teachers from using or discussing "preferred pronouns."
An approved measure on Wednesday will broaden the law from PreK to 8th grade. The previous law only went from K-3.
"Teachers should be spending their time focused on helping children succeed in life, not delving into every social issue or being forced to use language that violate their personal convictions," Florida State Senator Clay Yarborough said.
Spar says many other issues at this year's legislative session were left on the table.
"I think again, we saw the legislature leave town without adequately addressing the massive teacher and staff shortage," Spar said. "We saw massive expansion of vouchers that'll give vouchers to the wealthiest Floridians that will divert billions of dollars to our public schools."
Florida has gone from third to first in the ranking since Governor DeSantis took office.
The state also has the lowest in-state tuition for higher education.
WEAR News has provided a link to the full report from U.S. News & World Report, here.
