In a recent analysis done by WalletHub Arizona public schools ranked 47th overall. The ranking was made up of two components: quality and safety. The quality component was 80% of the total score and analyzed “test scores, teacher certification and dropout rate.” Arizona ranked 48th for quality partially because of its high student to teacher ratio; there are 24 students to every 1 teacher in Arizona compared to 13-15 to 1 ratio for states like New Jersey or Maine.

Safety comprised 20% of the total score and examined armed high school students, bullying and laws regulating and requiring school resource officers (Arizona currently does not require school resource officers). Governor Ducey’s proposed school safety plan included additional funding for school resource officer training, but the plan lost favor because it included provisions that would allow family members to seek a court order to remove guns from a suspected high-risk individual and to hold those individuals for mental health screening.

Massachusetts ranked #1 and New Mexico ranked #51 (the analysis included Washington, D. C.).