Scott broke promise for Florida to rise to No. 1 in high school graduation rates

Gov. Rick Scott set the bar high on high school graduation rates: He promised Florida would rise to the top spot.

But Florida has fallen far short of Scott’s 2014 re-election campaign promise.

There are a few different ways to measure graduation rates. One common measurement is the federal government’s cohort method, which examines how many students who enter 9th grade graduate four years later with a standard diploma.

By that measurement, Florida’s rate in 2015-16 was 80.7 percent, below the majority of the states and the national average of 84.1 percent.

Florida’s rate placed it in 37th place, said Sterling Lloyd, assistant director for the Education Week Research Center.

“It will take significant work to catch Iowa at 91.3 percent,” Lloyd said.

The 2015-16 data is the most recent available from the federal government. The Florida Department of Education provided PolitiFact with the following year’s data showing a graduation rate of 82.3 percent in 2016-17, an all-time high during Scott’s tenure which started in 2011. However, the state data also shows that the graduation rate has climbed every year since 2006-07, which includes former Gov. Charlie Crist’s tenure.

Improvements are notable, but Scott promised that Florida would climb to No. 1. The state has not achieved anywhere near that ranking.

We rate this Promise Broken.