Connecticut earned “smartest state” honors Thursday from a Lawrence research and publishing company in new state-by-state rankings of public education quality.

Morgan Quitno Press, operated by Lawrence school board President Scott Morgan, ranked the 50 states based on various statistics about elementary and secondary schools.

Connecticut was followed in the rankings by Vermont, Montana, New Jersey and Maine.

“Excellence across the board in factors such as student proficiency in math and reading, class size and spending on education makes (Connecticut) a sure winner for the award,” Morgan said.

The first “Education State Rankings” book placed Kansas 14th in the nation, one spot behind Nebraska but well ahead of Colorado (27th), Oklahoma (32nd) and Missouri (31st).

Morgan said Kansas’ ranking reflected the state’s tradition of supporting public education.

“The fear is that we’re letting that slip and that over time we’ll lose what generations have spent building up,” he said.

Bringing up the lower end of the scale were New Mexico in last place, preceded by Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Nevada.

Kathleen and Scott Morgan operate Morgan Quitno Press, which ranked the 50 states based on various statistics about elementary and secondary schools in the new book Education

Morgan said no state would be able to make dramatic improvement in rankings from one year to the next.

“It takes a methodical approach,” he said. “States that try to make a big splash in one year … you don’t have dramatic changes.”

He said trends over five- and 10-year periods captured the rise and fall of states’ school quality.

Each state was rated on 14 “positive” factors, including per-pupil expenditures, testing proficiency and graduation rate. Nine “negative” factors were added to the mix, including drop-out rate, violence against teachers and pupil-to-teacher ratio.

Not included in the smartest state calculation but listed in the book are nearly 380 other factors influencing education in each state.

¢ See the Morgan Quitno state rankings

The “smartest state” honor is one of five designations reported annually by Morgan Quitno Press. Other publications tally the nation’s “Safest and Most Dangerous City and Metro Area,” the “Most Livable State,” the “Healthiest State” and the “Safest and Most Dangerous State.”

More information about the “smartest state” award, including rankings of the 50 states, is available on the Web at www.statestats.com.

Morgan Quitno Press is an independent, private company started in 1989. Its books are generally bought by reference libraries and government agencies. The company isn’t subsidized by any outside interest group.