Florida Public Schools Get Better Results — Especially for Disadvantaged Kids — for Less than Half the Price

A wake-up call for New Jersey: New Jersey public schools are not nearly as good as the NJEA and Gov. Murphy claim. Florida 4th graders have better academic achievement in both math and reading than New Jersey — especially for disadvantaged children — while spending less than half the money.

The NJEA frequently claims that our public schools are the best in the nation: As NJEA President/gubernatorial candidate Sean Spiller wrote in the December, 2024 NJEA Review: “I often say that we have the best schools in the nation.”  Spiller likes to cite the EdWeek rankings, but those rankings are flawed because they count the amount of spending as a per se positive, which elevates New Jersey because we spend so much. But common sense tells us that student achievement should be the prime measure of school success, and efficiency in spending tax dollars is a far better measure than the absolute level of spending.

According to new research*, Florida outshines New Jersey in both these measures.

OVERALL ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (also known as “The Nation’s Report Card”), Florida’s 4th-graders were third in the nation in reading (225) and fourth in math (241), while New Jersey’s were fifth in reading (223) and ninth in math (239).  As New Jersey parents well know, our children suffered massive learning loss due to the prolonged school closures during COVID — which both Spiller and the NJEA supported, and Murphy allowed.  On the other hand, Florida, which opened its schools, students saw no learning loss in reading and less than New Jersey in math.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR DISADVANTAGED** CHILDREN: Florida was number one in the nation in both reading (215) and math (233), far outpacing New Jersey’s reading (203) and math (220) scores.  Disadvantaged children in New Jersey saw cataclysmic learning loss from 2019, down -11 in math and -7 in reading.  This is where the school closures that Spiller and the NJEA pushed for — and that Murphy allowed — really hurt New Jersey children. Remember this fact when next you hear the NJEA and Murphy talk about “equity.”

EDUCATION SPENDING: In 2022, New Jersey spent $24,200 per student, third highest among the states. Florida spent $11,200, or less than half of what New Jersey spent.  Remember that this spending is funded by New Jersey’s extremely high taxes and consider whether they could be spent more efficiently.

The bottom line is that Florida gets better results while spending less than half as much.  What is particularly galling is that Florida surpassed New Jersey because of our prolonged school closures during the pandemic, closures pushed by the NJEA and accommodated by their hand-picked governor.  These are the same forces that push New Jersey education spending higher and higher every year.  And for what? 

Wake up, New Jersey: Florida shows that New Jersey citizens are being taken to the cleaners by the NJEA and the politicians it controls.

*By Kathryn Perkins, Paul Powell, and Jeff Wasbes for the American Enterprise Institute.

** Children eligible for free/reduced-price lunches.