CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – With elections for top-three statewide offices, education is always a huge issue, and a new WalletHub survey of 32 factors ranks Virginia’s schools 4th-best in the nation. WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo told CvilleRightNow.com Virginia finishes behind only Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey in aggregate score… and 6th in the overall quality rating and 5th in safety.

In quality, Virginia has the 9th-lowest dropout rate, 9th-highest share of Class of 2024 students placing 3 or higher on AP exams, and 6th-highest ACT score.

In safety, Virginia is 3rd-lowest in share of high schools with access to legal drugs, 2nd-lowest in armed high school students, 5th-lowest in bullying incidents, and 8th-lowest disciplinary incident rate.

A major difference between schools ranking highest and those ranking lowest in their survey, Lupo said “In a lot of these cases it comes down to funding, essentially.”

“A lot of these states are low-income states where the median income is below the national average,” Lupo said. “And a lot of them are not funding for public education, in a lot of these states its simply not a priority.”

Another aspect Lupo said Virginia has going for it is a digital learning plan which embraces technology for teachers to plan curricula, mandatory school resource officers, and a statewide school safety plan and a school safety audit requirement.

“Of course, a lot of that is driven by the fact you have some very, very fine schools up in Fairfax County and the Washington, DC area, and that seems to be trickling down to the rest of the state,” Lupo notes.

“For a while there, that particular part of the state kind of carried the education banner, but it does seem to be trickling down for the better through the rest of the state.”

Click here for the WalletHub rankings.