By: Dee Dee Reese
Published July 13, 2025

Louisiana has long struggled with education rankings, and for good reason. In 2024, the state ranked #46 nationally for overall education performance. A year later, we’re up to #32. Governor Jeff Landry has hailed the jump as proof that Louisiana is “moving in the right direction.” But here’s the uncomfortable question: Are we measuring progress accurately, or simply shifting the goalposts?

Let’s start with the facts. Louisiana spends $12,990 per student annually. That’s more than Oklahoma ($10,510), but well behind Kentucky ($14,040) and miles from Oregon’s $18,140. These aren't arbitrary numbers; they reflect how deeply a state is willing to invest in its future workforce and civic fabric.

At the same time, Louisiana holds one of the worst high school dropout rates in the country, third behind New Mexico and one other state, with 7.36% of students leaving school before graduation. That’s nearly one in every 13 students disappearing from the pipeline.

Despite this, the state’s reported graduation rate has improved. But there's a catch. Louisiana starts tracking graduation cohorts in the 10th grade. That means students who drop out in 9th grade, often a make-or-break year, are not counted. If they’re not in the cohort, they’re not in the final stats. It’s a technical loophole that paints a rosier picture than many families and educators experience on the ground.

The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) is doing meaningful work to confront these issues: monitoring graduation rates, supporting early intervention, and implementing a new accountability system for 2025–2026 that raises expectations across the board. These are important steps. But no accountability framework, no matter how well designed, can overcome chronic underinvestment.

If we want real change, we need to ask: What is a Louisiana diploma actually worth? Are our schools preparing students for life beyond graduation, or just teaching them to pass standardized metrics? Ranking #32 might sound like progress, but if we’re losing students in 9th grade and failing to fully fund our classrooms, we’re still failing.

Education isn’t just a statistic, it’s a promise. And until Louisiana funds that promises with the seriousness it deserves, we’ll keep falling short of our potential, no matter what the rankings say