Dragged down by poor reading and math scores, a low graduation rate and eroding funding for schools, California education received a grade of C and ranked 30th in the nation on an annual survey released Tuesday.

The state's score dropped slightly from 2010, when it received a C-plus in the Quality Counts survey conducted by the Maryland-based nonprofit Editorial Projects in Education Research Center.

States throughout the nation struggled to earn a passing grade. Researchers awarded U.S. education systems as a whole a C. California earned 76.2 points on a 1-to-100 scale -- that was not graded on a curve -- summing up six areas of policy and performance.

California lags in nearly all of them. The state earned a D-minus in achievement, and a C in the three areas of finance, the teaching profession and factors contributing to student success. It did better, receiving a B-minus, in integrating different levels of education. And the state earned an A-minus in testing, standards and accountability, for 17th in the nation.

Paul Hefner, a spokesman for the California Department of Education, noted that the academic portion of the survey is pegged to national tests given to random fourth- and eighth-graders, a test that doesn't necessarily align with the California curriculum. California students have historically performed much worse on that test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, than on the annual state STAR tests.

Still,
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"We can't afford to be satisfied with a C for California schools," said Tom Torlakson, the state's newly instated superintendent of public instruction, in a prepared statement.

For the third year in a row, Maryland was ranked above all other states, receiving a B-plus overall, followed by Massachusetts and New York, which recorded B's. At the bottom were Nebraska, South Dakota and the District of Columbia, which were given D-pluses.

On the survey's component measuring achievement, California ranked 46th with a D-minus, below South Carolina and above New Mexico. Massachusetts topped that category with a B, followed by Maryland and New Jersey. The achievement index measured 18 indicators, including test achievement, year-to-year improvement and disparities based on family income.

But an indication of the dismal state of the country's schools, the average state earned a D-plus in achievement. Four states and Washington, D.C., earned F's.

The report also addressed the effect of the recession on schools and noted that the nation had stalled in widening opportunity for students to succeed. The survey's "chance-for-success" index looked at the role education plays over a lifetime by measuring 13 indicators ranging from family income, preschool and college enrollment to adult employment. California scored 42nd among states, rating a C. The national average was a C-plus.

While the recession hit schools hard, Uncle Sam has played a major role in keeping schools from falling off a financial cliff, the survey found. About one-third of all federal stimulus funds, or $80.6 billion, flowed through schools, it noted. Those moneys saved or created more than 650,000 jobs.

In spending on education, California scored 60.1, or just barely a D-minus. But its overall score in the finance category was boosted by its efforts to equalize funding among districts and disparate groups.

The Editorial Projects in Education Research Center is a nonprofit focusing on preschool through 12th grade. It also publishes the periodical Education Week, focusing on K-12 education. Quality Counts 2011 was its 15th annual survey.