I Am So Popular: Billie Jean Is Also Not MY Lover!
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Snapshots: Patrick Wolf @ Antone's [Last Night]
Faith/Void: Bill Callahan at the Parish, Being Great
Weekend Music Preview: Sky Sunlight Saxon Memorial + 4th of July events
Commentary- African American Book Festival
According to a recent research report issued today, Texas children are getting the proverbial short end of the stick. Like, the really short end. The report - called the KIDS COUNT Data Book - is a national state-by-state report issued by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in conjunction with the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP).
Today's report is a precursor to CPPP's "The State of Texas Children 2007" which will be released this fall. The fall report will provide child well-being data for every county in Texas.
The report on Texas' children is, sadly, rather bleak.
Some statistics of interest from the KIDS COUNT Data Book report:
- Texas has the nation's worst teen birth rate, with 63 births per 1,000 teens. Nationally, there are 41 births for every 1,000 teens.
- Texas has the 7th worst child poverty rate in the nation (1 in 4 Texas children lived in poverty in 2005, a 14% increase since 2000).
- Texas' infant mortality rate increased by 11% from 2000 to 2004 (6.3 deaths per 1,000 live births). This is still slightly better than the national average (6.8 to 1,000)
- Texas has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation (1 in 5 children). Texas has had the highest rate in the nation in this area for 9 of the past 10 years.
For further information, go here:
CPPP News Release
The Report
Image of screaming baby courtesy of cathycracks on flickr.
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How much does this have to do with so many illegal immigrants living in Texas as compared to other states? I know other states have a lot of illegal immigrants, but Texas seems to have about 80 tons of them.
There is NO excuse for the amount of uninsured children in this godforsaken state.
As a Texas educator, I'd say that perhaps our government, state and national, should put more focus on these more pressing social issues rather than making sure every child in the state can pass some ridiculous standardized test ( which is, at best, a mediocre measure of one's intelligence and readiness for the work place). If teens are having babies, they are more likely to drop out of school and add to that poverty statistic AND that uninsured child statistic. It is heartbreaking that a child would not get quality health care because of lack of insurance.
Looking at California's stats (I've heard they have some immigrants too), they're far better off than Texas is.
Maybe the problem is lack of sex education and an overabundance of the "my child isn't having sex, he/she can do no wrong" attitude in a lot of parents these days.
It's hard to discuss Texas' uninsured children problem without a real discussion of the failures of CHIP and the state's bungled Accenture contract.
It's heartbreaking that ANYBODY can't get health care because of a lack of insurance - let's not reduce this to age brackets. What I think is more disgusting is that people have children when they can't afford them and they don't deal with that by getting a better job or having an abortion or giving the child up for adoption. Let's face the facts - what you're saying (and what I am definitely saying) is that poor people should not be having kids. The only difference in our thinking is that you think they should get a reward if they do get pregnant or impregnate someone, and I think they should have to deal with the pregnancy on their own.