A national grassroots group working to restore free speech and the free exchange of ideas across K-12 and higher education while keeping political ideology and activism out of schools has released its inaugural report, "Helping Public Schools RISE: Rankings on Integrity in State Education (RISE)," which ranks public school systems in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Terry Stoops, Defending Education's director of government affairs, recently explained how the group's evaluation differs from traditional academic ratings.
"A lot of rankings will look at things like school choice policies or student performance," he told the "Washington Watch" program. "What we zeroed in on are state policies regarding gender ideology, diversity, equity, inclusion, or DEI, parents' rights policies [and] teacher policies such as unionization, foreign influence and foreign funding."
Noting a clear divide in state-level protections for parental transparency, he said Tennessee and Alabama claimed the report's top two spots. Illinois and the District of Columbia ranked at the bottom.
"Democrat-dominated states are still very much keeping parents in the dark about these sorts of issues," he said. "They are keeping secrets from parents."
Rhode Island, California, Oregon, Illinois and the District of Columbia do not require schools to notify parents when students use different pronouns or indicate they are transgender, or they have policies allowing staff to withhold that information.
These bottom-ranking states require less parental involvement in sex education, including allowing students to participate without parental notification. They also require instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity and have fewer restrictions on LGBTQ-related curriculum and transgender participation in sports or include gender identity in nondiscrimination and anti-bullying laws.
They support DEI-related policies, allow greater teacher-union power, including collective bargaining and public-sector strikes, and lack certain state restrictions on foreign government influence in education.
Stoops said teacher unions play a significant role in where states land on the list, arguing that stronger oversight of unions keeps controversial ideologies in check.
"Teacher unions are the institutions that by far are pushing gender ideology and DEl ideology in the states that rank worst in our rankings," he summarized.
For parents in low-ranked states who are unhappy with local public school curricula, Stoops offered a direct-action step ahead of upcoming elections.
"I think the biggest change in the immediate future is opting into the federal scholarship tax credits," he said. "They should be urging their governor or state legislature to opt into the federal scholarship tax credits. That would be a game-changer."
Defending Education plans to publish the RISE report annually to track how state legislatures uphold parental rights and transparency in public schools.
