Count on leftists to do some “research” finding that awful things happen whenever a state tries to improve education through conservative policy.

When Governor DeSantis began trying to sweep out deadwood from the universities in his state, the lefties went ballistic. Now, they have put out a study purporting to find that the state is suffering a “brain drain” as brilliant professors leave the state in protest against the governor’s post-tenure review policy.

In today’s Martin Center article, Sherman Criner looks at the study with skepticism.

Here’s a slice:

The study also suffers from more structural weaknesses. Many of its findings come with large confidence intervals, making the strength of its conclusions questionable. For instance, the decline in new-hire quality may be statistically insignificant — a detail buried beneath the headline findings. Moreover, the selection of control states is problematic: None experienced controversies or policy shifts in higher education remotely comparable to the intensity and scope of Florida’s upheaval, undermining the validity of the comparative analysis.

And post-tenure review no doubt has some benefits in keeping profs from coasting once they’re tenured. Read the whole thing.