States leading nation on the biggest education battles gripping classrooms revealed in first-ever report

FIRST ON FOX: The escalating battle over what children should be taught in public schools continues to drive America’s culture wars, and a new report ranks every state on some of the most contentious issues affecting today’s classrooms.

Red states dominated the ranking, which measures all 50 states and Washington, D.C., on issues spanning parental rights, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), gender and sexuality, teacher and union policies, and foreign influence, according to Defending Education’s first-ever Rankings on Integrity in State Education, released Thursday.

Tennessee claimed the top spot, followed by Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and Iowa, while Washington, D.C. ranked last, followed by Rhode Island, California, Oregon, and Illinois.

The rankings do not account for test scores or graduation rates. Instead, the report said it is designed to show how states are approaching hot-button issues as parents demand greater transparency in their children’s education.

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“For the first time, parents have a single resource to see how their state handles the issues they’ve voiced concerns about over the last five years, empowering them to evaluate local schools and hold leaders accountable at the ballot box,” Paul Runko, senior director of strategic initiatives at Defending Education, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Of the report’s five categories, the parental rights category ended in a four-way tie, with North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia earning the top spot. Each was awarded points for policies that give parents more say over student gender transitions, sex education instruction and whether their children participate in those lessons.

Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, all red states, received perfect scores on teacher policies. According to the report, laws governing teacher unions, strikes and collective bargaining, along with work authorization requirements, were key factors in the scoring.

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Iowa, Missouri and West Virginia topped the report’s DEI category after receiving high marks for laws restricting DEI initiatives and other policies related to restorative justice, teacher diversity and antisemitism.

Another major flashpoint in education has been a growing conversation on gender identity and transgender athletes competing in women’s sports. The report examined state policies blocking LGBTQ-specific curriculum, restricting transgender athlete participation, and state nondiscrimination and anti-bullying laws related to gender identity, finding Alabama, Florida and Indiana tied for the highest scores.

But the report went further than policies shaping the classroom. Seven red states received perfect scores for laws limiting Chinese government influence in education, including Confucius Institutes, China-backed language and cultural education centers. Alabama, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas aced the category.

In another statement to Fox News Digital, Dr. Terry Stoops, director of government affairs at Defending Education, congratulated the frontrunners.

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“If your state is at the top of Defending Education’s rankings, congratulations!” he said. “You live in a state with public school policies that prioritize sound academics over shameless antics.”

Stoops also blamed elected leaders for the lowest-scoring states, accusing them of having “sacrificed educational excellence at the altar of social justice.”

“For parents in bottom-feeder states who value rigor over ridiculousness, the choice is either fight or flight,” he said.

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Despite more blue states embracing DEI and social justice policies, the report said it wants parents to have a clearer picture of where their state stands on education and how those policies could impact their children and future generations.