Ever since Jeb Bush was governor, Florida has been the “Just Read!” state. The Legislature enshrined reading as a “core value” in statute, and the Florida Department of Education continues to have a “Just Read, Florida!” office.

The result of this focus on reading is shown by the SAT scores earned by our state’s high school graduating class of 2023. While these graduates performed well on the English reading and writing section of the SAT, their performance on the math section was dismal.

It is time for Florida’s educational leaders, educators, parents and students to focus on math.

I will start by backing up my claims about Florida’s SAT results. Of the students who graduated from Florida high schools in 2023, 90% took the SAT. Only 10 other states and the District of Columbia had participation rates as high or higher than Florida’s. Comparing Florida’s SAT results to those of states that have much lower participation rates would not make sense since we’d be comparing the scores earned by nearly all of our students to those earned by only the stronger students in those lower participation states. So we will confine our comparison of Florida to those 10 other high-participation states (Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Rhode Island and West Virginia) plus the District of Columbia.

Among these 12 high-participation jurisdictions, Florida’s high school graduating class of 2023 had the third highest mean score (503) on the SAT reading and writing section, behind only Connecticut and Colorado. That’s pretty good, and “Just Read, Florida!” seems to be working.

But now for the bad news. Among the 12 high-participation jurisdictions, Florida’s mean score on the SAT math section (463) was third from the bottom, ahead of only West Virginia and New Mexico. That is bad news for the future of Florida’s students in an economy in which many of the most financially attractive career opportunities are in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and health care fields.

The SAT scores earned by Florida’s high school graduating class of 2023 are significantly lower than those earned by the class of 2017, but the decline in math section scores is much larger than the decline in reading and writing scores. Florida’s high school graduating class of 2017 earned a mean SAT reading/writing score of 520, so the 2023 mean score of 503 represents a 17-point decline. Another way of looking at this is to examine the percentage of test-takers who earned what the College Board calls a “college-ready” score, which is 480 on the reading/writing section. Of Florida’s high school graduating class of 2017, 64% earned that college-ready score. Among the graduating class of 2023, 58% did — a decline of 6 percentage points.

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But on the math section, the negative trend is steeper. For Florida’s high school graduating class of 2017, the mean math section score was 497, and 38% of these test-takers achieved the college-ready score of 530. The mean math section score of 463 for the high school graduating class of 2023 represents a 34-point decline. And among the class of 2023, only 28% were college-ready in math, giving a 10-percentage-point decline since 2017.

Unfortunately, the Florida Legislature didn’t even consider any proposals to improve high school math instruction during its 2024 session. What they should be doing is figuring out how to attract more individuals who have strong math skills into the teaching profession. According to the 2024-25 High Demand Teacher Needs Areas report adopted by the State Board of Education earlier this year, Florida’s teacher preparation programs are producing fewer than one-fifth the number of new math teachers that the state’s public schools are seeking to hire.

It’s possible that some individuals with strong math skills who might otherwise consider teaching careers are discouraged by teacher salaries in Florida. While the average starting salary for public school teachers in the state is relatively high ($47,178 in 2023, according to the National Education Association), experienced teachers do not make much more than starting teachers. According to the National Education Association, the average teacher salary in Florida in 2022-23 was $53,098, which ranked 50th in the nation among states and the District of Columbia. Only West Virginia was lower, and even Mississippi was higher (although only by $255).

However, salaries are not the only issue stressing math teachers. Some math teachers I have talked with have told me that often when students are struggling with math, the students’ parents blame the teacher and complain to school administrators. Instead of complaining about math teachers, parents should be making sure their students are doing their math homework and then working with the teachers to find the help their students need to be more successful in learning math.

After all, math opens opportunities for students. Of course, students who want to pursue high-powered STEM careers like engineering, computing or the physical sciences in college benefit a great deal from taking a calculus course while they are in high school — which can only happen if those students succeed in Algebra 1 in middle school.

But it’s not just students in those most math-intensive career tracks who need math skills. Nursing students need math skills, and the lack of math skills among those students has posed challenges for nurse educators. Many of the technical career tracks that can be accessed with two-year college degrees and which are being promoted by Florida’s leaders require significant college-level math skills.

“Just Calculate, Florida!” doesn’t roll off the tongue like “Just Read, Florida!” does. But maybe some smart marketing professional can come up with a better slogan to promote the improvement of math instruction in the state. Because that’s what Florida’s students desperately need to have bright futures in our technological economy — better opportunities to learn math.

Paul Cottle, a physics professor at Florida State University, was on the committee that wrote Florida’s K-12 science standards in 2007-08 and was chairperson of the American Physical Society’s Committee on Education from 2013-14.