DeSantis touts partnership with conservative groups in education budget proposal

Gov. Ron DeSantis outlined his education budget proposal Tuesday in a wide-ranging speech along familiar policy and culture-war themes — such as academic freedom and civic education.

The governor claimed Florida has the best education in the country by being ranked the number one state for education freedom by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and the number one state for higher education by U.S. News and World Report.

Florida high schools were also ranked 5th in the country by U.S. News and World Report. The Nation’s Report Card found that in 2022, while Florida’s 4th graders performed higher than the national average in Mathematics and Reading, 8th graders performed about average in Math, Reading and Science.

“We’ve also been proud to take the lead on ensuring robust American civics education throughout the state of Florida,” DeSantis said. “We also created a program called the Florida Civic Seal of Excellence, which gives $3,000 bonuses to every teacher that goes through this civics training program.”