Idaho Education News reports today on a numbers debate: Does Idaho rank 50^th or 51^st for its investment in education? The answer: Both. There are several measures, and Idaho ranks at or near the bottom on all of them. The rankings that have 51 possibilities include all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. EdNews’ Kevin Richert reports that people in Utah are crowing about a recent U.S. Census report that showed Idaho for the first time surpassing Utah and ranking 51^st - lowest - for the funding it collects, from all sources, for K-12 education, measured per-student. “Idaho now holds the once-coveted position that we held for so long that none of us were real proud of,” said Utah state Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper.

Meanwhile, Idaho’s actual per-student spending for 2011-12, the most recent year reported, ranked 50^th, just ahead of Utah’s ranking. Richert’s full report is online here.