The funny thing is, if you look at which states have the worst education systems, I believe the bottom 15 are all led by the GOP. Not really a shocker.
Also, the GOP want to dismantle the public education system. They don't like the idea of sending their kids to schools with minorities, or have their tax dollars fund that shit. So, the idea of giving vouchers to parents so they can send little Jimmy and Suzy to private school are becoming more and more common.
I remember about a decade ago Florida (hard GOP state) was cutting the number of courses a kid needed to graduate high school....for budgetary reasons. So, the right can clutch their pearls over what a blue state does, but odds are, that state is better run with a higher living standard...