Florida ranks #2 in the nation according to Freedom in the 50 States and ranks #3 in the nation according to Economic Freedom of North America.

Those are impressive scores, but Florida does even better when looking specifically at school choice. It ranks #1 in the American Legislative Exchange Council’s 2025 Index of State Education Freedom.

What makes Florida’s score even more impressive is that it gets good educational outcomes while being frugal with taxpayer money.

Congratulation to the Sunshine State, but this column is not just about Florida.

It’s a celebration of how much progress there has been on school choice in recent years.

I’ve written columns about new and expanded school choice programs in West Virginia, Arizona, Iowa, Utah, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Alabama.

And that’s reflected in this table from the ALEC report. There are now eight states that earn an A compared to only three states with that top score in the previous report.

While Florida deserves plaudits for being the best of the best, North Carolina deserves special praise.

As reported in Center Square by Alan Wooten, the Tarheel State dramatically improved education policy. Here are some excerpts.

Universal school choice and clearance of 55,000 on a waiting list helped lift North Carolina 23 spots to 12th nationally in the 2025 Education Freedom Report from the American Legislative Exchange Council. The jump was the largest of any… Florida retained the No. 1 spot and was the only state getting an “A+” while Ohio was another big gainer, moving 13 spots to 10th. The Tarheel State, with about 1.5 million schoolchildren in its 11 million population, picked up…an “A” for education freedom programs, “B” for charter schools, and “C” for each of homeschooling and virtual schooling.

Jumping 23 spots is very impressive, though North Carolina in recent years made an even bigger jump when looking at fiscal policy. Definitely a state moving in the right direction.

I’ll close with another feel-good map from ALEC. Here’s a look at states (in blue) that may join the school choice club this year.

If even just a handful of those states enact plans, that will be great news.

And never forget that the purpose of school choice is to get better outcomes for kids. Private schools (as well as homeschooling) generate better educational outcomes. Children achieve better test scores and other social indicators also improve.

P.S. School choice is also an international phenomenon. I’ve written about programs in Canada, Sweden, Chile, the Netherlands, and Denmark.