Those are literacy rates in English. States with higher number of immigrants end up having lower rates of literacy in English because immigrants, as non-native speakers do tend to bring the averages down.
States with stronger teachers' unions tend to have weaker literacy performance; States with stronger teachers' unions tend to have weaker literacy performance; Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Indiana, all Republican-leaning states with weak unions, were among the states with the best literacy outcomes. Maine, New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington and Rhode Island, blue states, were among the worst.
