A study published last week ranked each state’s quality of public education.
And Pennsylvania was ranked amongst the 10 best in this regard.
Conducted and published by ConsumerAffairs, the Keystone State — after getting high marks in metrics such as “School funding and resources” and “Higher education quality” — ranked 10th overall.
However, the study notes that Pennsylvania ranked fifth overall in last year’s study, meaning it fell by five spots. Illinois took the state’s place in the number five slot for 2025.
As far as the top three best states for public education goes, they are, in ascending order: Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York.
“New York ranks as the highest overall for public education, taking last year’s crown from Massachusetts,” the report reads. “The Empire State ranks fifth best for school safety and 13th for higher education. However, its top rank is really owed to its robust school funding and resources.
“New York boasts the most-educated teachers of any state, with 95 percent of K-12 teachers holding advanced degrees. It also has one of the best student-to-teacher ratios in the nation (11.6-to-1) and the second-highest average teacher salary at $95,615 a year (that’s well above the state’s median household income of $82,095).”
And then there’s Arizona, which — for the second year in a row — ranked as the worst state in the nation for public education.
“Nationwide, our public schools are mostly locally funded and controlled, and how a particular district is performing is most important,” said Allison Hertog, a former teacher and attorney for families of students with disabilities.
“In the end, how good a child’s experience is often comes down to how good the teacher is, and that can change from year-to-year even [if] you’re in the best-performing or least-performing school.”