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

Defending Education Publishes First‑Ever State‑by‑State Ranking of School‑Policy Integrity

The new report, released Thursday, evaluates every U.S. state and the District of Columbia on how they handle parental rights, diversity and inclusion, gender and sexuality, teacher unions, and foreign influence in public schools. Tennessee tops the list, while Washington, D.C. falls to the bottom.

A New Benchmark for Parents

Defending Education, a conservative think‑tank that tracks state education legislation, unveiled its inaugural Rankings on Integrity in State Education on Thursday. The study scores 51 jurisdictions—50 states plus the District of Columbia—across five broad policy categories, but it does not factor in test scores, graduation rates, or other academic outcomes. Instead, the ranking is designed to show how states are treating the “hot‑button” issues that have come to dominate the national education debate.

“We’re giving parents a single resource to see how their state handles the issues they’ve voiced concern about over the last five years,” senior director of strategic initiatives Paul Runko told Fox News Digital. “It empowers them to evaluate local schools and hold leaders accountable at the ballot box.”

Top‑Ranked States

Tennessee earned the overall top spot, followed by Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and Iowa. The ranking’s top five states are all in the South or Midwest, where conservative lawmakers have often championed policies that prioritize what Defending Education calls “sound academics over shameless antics.”

Washington, D.C. fell to the bottom, trailed by Rhode Island, California, Oregon and Illinois—states traditionally associated with more expansive diversity and equity initiatives. The DC ranking, the lowest in the country, has drawn criticism from Defending Education’s leadership, who accuse such “bottom‑feeder” states of “sacrificing educational excellence at the altar of social justice.”

Category Breakdown

Parental Rights

The parental‑rights category produced a four‑way tie for first place. North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia each earned the highest marks for policies that grant parents more say over student gender transitions, sex‑education instruction, and participation in gender‑identity lessons.

Teacher and Union Policies

Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and South C. scored perfectly on teacher policies. The ranking weighs how state laws govern teacher unions, collective bargaining, strikes and work‑authorization requirements. Defending Education notes that these factors “are key to the scoring” because they determine who controls the curriculum and how teachers are treated.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Iowa, Missouri and West Virginia topped the DEI category, receiving high marks for laws restricting DEI initiatives, restorative‑justice programs, teacher diversity, and anti‑antisemitism statutes. The study treats restrictive measures as a sign of “integrity” because they limit what some view as politically driven social‑justice programs.

Gender and Sexuality

Alabama, Florida and Indiana tied for the highest scores in policies that block LGBTQ‑specific curriculum, restrict transgender athlete participation and impose nondiscrimination or anti‑bullying laws related to gender identity. Defending Education’s report frames these policies as a defense of “traditional” gender roles.

Foreign Influence

Seven states—Alabama, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas—received perfect scores in the foreign‑influence category, which looks at how they limit Chinese government involvement in education, such as Confucius Institutes or China‑backed language and cultural programs.

Reactions from Defending Education

Dr. Terry Stoops, the organization’s director of government affairs, congratulated the top performers. “If your state is at the top of Defending Education’s rankings, congratulations,” Stoops told Fox News Digital. “You live in a state with public‑school policies that prioritize sound academics over shameless antics.”

He went on to blame elected officials in lower‑ranked states for what he sees as a “trade‑off” between educational quality and social justice. “For parents in bottom‑feeder states who value rigor over ridiculousness, the choice is either fight or flight,” Stoops said.

Implications for Parents and Policymakers

The report’s creators argue that by listing how each state scores on contentious issues, parents can better understand the political climate in their local schools. That understanding, they claim, empowers parents to hold elected officials accountable in future elections.

While the study does not provide a measure of actual academic performance, it shines a light on the ideological underpinnings of state education policies. It also illustrates a growing divide between states that favor parental control and those that embrace broader diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Whether the rankings will shift policy debates remains to be seen. For now, the Rankings on Integrity in State Education offers a new benchmark for those who want to know how their state’s education system is aligning—or diverging—from their values.