Rep. Tom Suozzi staff ranks 1st in education level at House, tracker finds

WASHINGTON — The best-educated staff of all 435 U.S. House members belongs to Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), with only Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s ranked higher in formal education levels found in either chamber of Congress, a nonpartisan tracker shows.

Suozzi's office was ahead of fellow New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-Bronx, Queens) staff, which was third overall in Congress, according to the congressional tracker LegiStorm.

Should legislative staff education levels even matter?

"There are great staffers with impressive educational credentials," offered Joshua Huder, a congressional expert at Georgetown's University's Government Affairs Institute. "On the other hand, some of the best staffers I know have relatively modest educational backgrounds."

Suozzi spokesperson Lily Cohen responded Friday by saying, "His staff could work anywhere. They choose to work with Tom because they want to help people and make a difference."

LegiStorm’s rankings are based on an average score assigned to each office based on where staffers went to college, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, and the levels of education they obtained. For instance, a PhD is weighted more heavily than a master's or bachelor's degree.

In tracking such information, LegiStorm underscores the data isn't intended to convey any judgment on the quality of staff or ability to carry out its work, and that formal education levels are only part of a person’s skill and experience.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-N.Y.) staff roster is listed as the 20th most educated among all 535 members of the House and Senate, while New York Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) staff is 191st. Rep. Andrew Garbarino’s (R-Bayport) staff is 189th overall, first-term Rep. Laura Gillen’s (D-Rockville Centre) ranks 363rd and Rep. Nick LaLota’s (R-Amityville) is 419th.

An average House member employs about 14 to 18 personal staffers in their Washington and district offices, while a U.S. senator averages 35 to 50 staffers.

But education isn't everything. William Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington — and a former top Senate aide himself — said, "It is valuable to have not only educated [staffers] but also staff that have worked in the private sector where their real-world experience is as important, if not more so, than their educational degrees."