Washington Ranked Top State In Latest U.S. News Rankings | Seattle, WA Patch
You know, when you dig down, you have to wonder at this report. (US News has never been a favorite source of mine.)
Washington is ranked 4 in education -- ignoring the low per pupil spending, anyone who has dealt with the school systems, or read the recent comments about neglect and poor outcomes by the Washington State Superintendent, would have to wonder.
Infrastructure, ranked 3rd in the nation. This is with enough deferred maintenance on our roads -- such as needing to consider the closure of our largest N/S Interstate to retrofit 40 years of repairs, and a collapsing bridge to W Seattle -- warnings about the poor earthquake preparedness of our overpasses, sewage systems that have failed to handle rains for the last 3 out of four years, and an insecure major airport.
That US News -- which has traditionally be conservative -- like our
fiscal stability rating of 4 might just reflect their dislike of income taxes. They
rated Alaska 1 in that category -- and you should see how low oil
prices have resulted in massive cuts. We still haven't recovered services to the level of pre-2008.
Given the behavior of out state Sheriffs towards protestors and farmer workers, or having the largest police force in the state still be under Federal supervision, it is hard to see how crime and corrections are as high as 19th.
If we could only monetize the smugness.
