(The Center Square) – Without a top 10 in the four key metrics, consistency across each enabled Georgia to rank ninth overall in this month’s Education Freedom Report Card.
The state was 12th in return on investment, 13th in both education choice and teacher freedom, and 16th in transparency according to the Heritage Foundation’s annual analysis.
According to the report, “Georgia spends the 39th-most per pupil among states, spending $14,173 in cost-of-living-adjusted terms annually. Georgia ranks 25th in its combined fourth-grade and eighth-grade math and reading average NAEP score.”
The return on investment score is also impacted by 2.71 teachers for every nonteacher, and unfunded teacher pension liability representing 5.3% of state gross domestic product.
Education choice ranking went up three spots on the strength of the education savings accounts being enacted for K-12 students. An even higher score could be attained, the report said, if Georgia would make it “easier for more charter schools to open and operate and giving families more choices among traditional public schools beyond their assigned school.”
Only 21% of teachers gained alternative certification, and teacher licensures are not fully reciprocated with other states.
Year over year in the analysis, Georgia went up three spots overall; up three spots each in return on investment and education choice; up a spot in teacher freedom; and down three in transparency.
Georgia has roughly 1.7 million students in public schools. The state is America’s eighth-most populous with about 10.7 million.
