By Ari Armstrong | Commentary, Complete Colorado
Colorado ranks 47th in crime and corrections, 45th in fiscal stability, and 39th in opportunity, according to U.S. News and World Report, Governor Jared Polis noted in July.
Ha ha, just kidding! Polis proclaimed that “Colorado Ranked #1 in Education,” ignoring the low rankings in other categories and downplaying the fact that most Colorado students cannot read or do math at grade level according to state testing.
You can see the U.S. News rankings for yourself. Colorado ranks as 17th “best state overall,” which I guess is kind of good? I mean, it’s the top half, right? Okay, sure, we got beat by Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Delaware, while our neighbor Utah took the #1 spot. Not embarrassing at all!
Cherry picking
If you dig into the specifics, you will find that, while Colorado ranks 47th in crime and corrections, we actually rank 49th in public safety. At least we’re not dead last! That dishonor goes to New Mexico.
If you look at the education subcategories, you’ll find that we rank #3 in higher education and #9 in pre-k–12. Notably, being ninth on this list does not mean that Colorado has the ninth best schools. Rather, the ranking depends on “preschool enrollment, standardized test scores among eighth-graders, high school graduation rate and college readiness.”
Preschool enrollment per se says nothing about educational success. As Ann Schimke writes, “A report from the National Institute for Early Education Research showing that Colorado’s universal preschool program meets only two of 10 benchmarks meant to promote preschool quality.” Frankly, this program seems more like free babysitting (and “free” in this context means funded by taxpayers) than something aimed to improve education.
Relatively high standardized test scores mainly mean that Colorado residents tend to be wealthier and better-educated, not that the schools are doing a great job. But various elected officials rely on the stupidity fostered by the public schools to lie about cause and effect.
In a related release, Polis quotes various elected officials who groundlessly claim the education establishment is responsible for Colorado’s relative success. For example, Senator Jeff Bridges claims the ranking “shows that in Colorado, we know how to put our education dollars to good use.”
Of course, the high ranking also proves that taxpayers need to spend even more money on public schools, according to various officials whom Polis sites. Rep. Emily Sirota says the ranking shows “there is still more work to do to fully fund our schools.”
You see how this game works, right? Whether the purported evidence suggests that the public schools are failing or succeeding, the conclusion is always the same: raise tax funding.
READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT COMPLETE COLORADO
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