California Has the 12th Worst School System in America, Report Claims

The dog days of summer are here, and pretty soon the kids will head back to school. For students in California, that means trudging back into classrooms with the worst student-to-teacher ratio in the nation, according to a report released by WalletHub.

The number-crunchers at WalletHub compared every school system in the nation, and California didn’t fare well, coming in as the 12th worst school system in America.

The report compares factors such as SAT scores, dropout rates, reading scores and math scores. California was dragged down by student reading scores, which were in the bottom fifth in the nation, and it’s dead-last student-teacher ratio. To add insult to injury, WalletHub also compared spending vs. outcome, and California, again, fared poorly with the 21st highest spending per student only to achieve the 40th best outcome.

Lawrence O. Picus, associate dean of faculty affairs and professor of education, finance and policy at the University of Southern California, isn’t surprised by that disparity.

“There is no obvious or clear correlation between spending and school quality,” said Picus. “School quality is a function of providing adequate resources (personnel, instructional materials, etc.) to students and then offering strong instruction programs that challenge children and help those who are struggling so they can master the material.”

BEST SCHOOLS

1. Massachusetts
2. New Jersey
3. Connecticut
4. Vermont
5. Wisconsin

WORST SCHOOLS

1. Louisiana
2. New Mexico
3. Alaska
4. Arizona
5. District of Columbia

WalletHub also looked at school safety, comparing bullying incidents, disciplinary incidents, youth incarceration and student reports of bullying or threatening behaviors. In terms of safety, California again falls in the bottom half of school systems, coming in at 35.

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