Everyone knows that Florida ranks at the bottom when it comes to education. Except when it ranks near the top.

Depending on whom you ask, where you look and what year it is, Florida's standing compared to the rest of the nation is all over the map.

Here's Gov. Charlie Crist, speaking in June: ``Things are very good in education in Florida. We've gone, in fact, from 31st in education out of the 50 states two years ago to the top 10 in our country according to Education Week -- and that's a great thing.''

Compare that to Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho the same month: ``There should be no pride in declaring we're 47th nationally in funding.''

Which to believe?

``One of the big problems in Florida is there has been a lot of complacency among citizens because they have been fed a line of gibberish,'' said Lawton ``Bud'' Chiles III, president of the Lawton Chiles Foundation, named after the late governor. The foundation's initiative Worst to First is trying to make health and education issues a priority in Florida.

``It's bunk, it's just wrong to say that we're 10th in education or to say we're progressing nationally,'' Chiles said. ``It's just clearly not true.''

The problem is that different groups look at different parts of the education equation, making it difficult to get a complete picture, said Patrice Iatarola, education policy professor at Florida State University.

``To have anything capture all of the educational system in Florida is just not possible,'' she said.

Some rankings measure education spending, while others compare student performance. Making a connection between the two isn't simple.

Such comparisons are worthwhile for the public, Iatarola said -- to an extent.

``We think that people make better decisions when they have full information,'' she said. ``Except having full information ends up being convoluted.''

The numbers are more than just political fodder. Some business groups have complained that attracting talent to Florida is difficult because the state's education funding doesn't stack up.

Rankings became a rallying cry for parents and school districts clamoring for more state money after 2006 U.S. Census data placed Florida 50th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia in how much of an individual's income goes to public schools -- $33.51 of every $1,000, compared to the U.S. average $43.34.

The ``worst in the country'' label stuck, despite another Census chart in the same report ranking Florida 39th in per-student spending on education -- $7,759, compared to the U.S. average $9,138.

The 2007 Census data released last month moved Florida up to 36th in that category, though it remained 50th in the other measure.

State officials have countered with other rankings, like Education Week magazine's annual ``Quality Counts'' report, which put Florida at 10th in the nation in overall quality of education this year.

Never mind that the same report also gave the state an F for education spending and college readiness. Or that the ranking of 31st, from 2007, can't really be compared to 2009's figures, because the magazine changed the way it crunched its numbers.

States measure student progress in different ways, using their own standards and tests. That's why you can't really compare FCAT results to student achievement elsewhere, Miami-Dade's Carvalho has said.

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