New study ranks Utah No. 2 in US for teachers

SALT LAKE CITY — We talk a lot about the state of education in Utah — test scores vs. spending vs. quality schools and teachers.

But according to a new report about Utah’s educators, that’s not as dire as some of the recent surveys. In fact, it’s the opposite as Utah was ranked as the second-best state in the nation for teachers.

WalletHub put out a list and Utah landed one spot from the top, under New York, for the best state for teachers based on two dozen metrics within two categories: opportunity and competition, and academic and work environment.

The rest of Utah’s neighboring states, like Nevada and Arizona, were near the bottom of the list, and the only other western state to crack the top 10 was Washington.

The rest were in the northeast.

So what does Utah do well?

The Beehive State came in first in opportunity and competition, which means salary, income growth potential and the number of teachers needed — all of that adds up to success on this survey compared with other states.

Places Utah needs to improve: the state landed at No. 50 in spending per pupil in the classroom and No. 49 in the teacher-to-student ratio.

The good news/bad news is that out of 100, New York — the state with the highest score — scored a 60.

Utah scored a 57 out of 100.

That’s a whole lot better than New Hampshire, which came in at 31. But out of 100 — Utah can do more to improve the lives of teachers by giving them the resources they need to teach Utah’s children and prepare them for the future.