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Axios
24-06-2025
- Health
- Axios
Louisiana's kids are not OK
Louisiana ranks second to last in the U.S. for overall child well-being, according to new data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Why it matters: The numbers offer a yearly check-in on how well the state is serving its youngest residents and where it's falling short, especially in areas like child poverty and health. The big picture: The annual Kids Count report shows how children are faring overall, based on economic well-being, education, health and family/community factors. Louisiana improved its fourth grade reading proficiency scores and its on-time high-school graduation rate, the report found. But, the overall news is not great for the state's children. The foundation found that children in Louisiana experience less economic stability, worse health and more concerning community conditions than peers in most other states. Zoom in: The states with the biggest challenges are generally in the South and Southwest. New Mexico ranked last, with Louisiana and Mississippi rounding out the bottom three. Many Northeast and Midwest states rank near the top, with New Hampshire ranked 1st. Zoom out: Some of the bright spots nationally were reductions in child poverty, fewer teen births, an increase in on-time high school graduation and more children with health insurance, the organization said. Education continues to be a problem nationally, the report found. Reading and math scores have declined since 2019, chronic absenteeism is a "major challenge" and preschool participation hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels. Between the lines: The foundation argues that a child's future success often depends on where they grow up. "Geographic disparities around the country have persisted for years, shaped by differences in state and local policies, economic conditions, infrastructure, resources, neighborhood characteristics and community investment," the report says. Concerning stats for Louisiana: The child and teen death rate ranked 49 out of 50, based on 2023 data. Louisiana averaged 48 deaths per 100,000 children ages 1-19. Leading causes of death are vehicle crashes, drowning and homicide. 25% of children live in poverty statewide, compared to 16% children nationally. 79% of 8th graders were below proficient in math, which is higher than the national average of 73%. The bottom line:"Moving our state from 49th in overall child well-being won't be easy, but we do know what works: improving families' economic security, making sure children have nutritious food, and building safe, opportunity-rich communities," said Jen Roberts, CEO of Agenda for Children, in statement. Go deeper
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Report: New Mexico ranks last in the nation for child well-being, again
Jun. 11—New Mexico has once again been ranked the worst state in the country for child well-being, according to the newest annual Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count data book. The study, which utilizes data from 2023, focuses on four categories: economic well-being, education, health and family and community. The most recent study marks the fifth consecutive year in which New Mexico has earned the 50th spot. Among the four categories, the state came in last for education and family and community; 49th for economic well-being; and 46th for health. Those results reflect a marked lack in progress over the five years since the state received a 2018 landmark ruling that its public education department was violating students' constitutional rights with the quality of instruction provided — and a subsequent May ruling that it had not done enough to improve. The Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) remains marred in controversy. The state also has one of the lowest average median household incomes in the U.S., and while the state has the second-richest sovereign wealth fund in the nation and has, in recent years, markedly spent more on education, those efforts have yet to yield discernible dividends. New Mexico's lackluster rankings don't surprise Daniel Crespin, a father of eight who lives in the International District and works part-time as a plumber, allowing him to spend more time at home caring for his children. "My middle schooler is reading at a lower grade level, and they're not doing anything to push them in school," Crespin said. He added that the cost of childcare would be burdensome to the family. "It's really hard to get help out here, and there are some programs that try to do something, but the funding is not there. It's always going somewhere else," he said. Spending time at North Domingo Baca Park with her 5-year-old daughter Isla Vigil and the girl's father Isaac Vigil, Amanda Alire expressed a similar sentiment, noting that her 13-year-old son, who's enrolled in Santa Fe Public Schools, is reading at a "fourth-grade" level. She added that she works two jobs and north of 70 hours a week to provide for herself and her children, whom she had been raising alone — Vigil was in prison until earlier this month. But, as a result, her income puts her above the poverty threshold. "I don't get any other support, I don't qualify for any assistance," Alire said. "There's nothing that would help because they say you make too much money, even though you're taking care of two kids by yourself with one income." Noting that the state has passed a slew of policies directed at improving education and childhood well-being since 2023, nonprofit New Mexico Voices for Children — which partnered with the Annie E. Casey Foundation on the report — believes the state's ranking could change in the coming years. They also think the state's circumstances and demographics don't warrant a comparison to others. "Other states have vastly different circumstances than New Mexico, whether that's their population, their racial and ethnic makeup, their just general structure," Gabrielle Uballez, executive director of the organization, said in a May interview. "We like to look at comparing New Mexico to itself." House Democrats cited several bills approved during this year's 60-day legislative session that could benefit New Mexico children, including a $10.8 billion budget bill that directs over $100 million to transitional housing and the state's Early Childhood Education and Care Department. They also cited the creation of a new state Medicaid trust fund that could help the state weather federal funding decreases, legislation expanding childcare assistance for prekindergarten children and established an outside oversight office to review complaints involving CYFD. "I'm a big believer in data, data is always good. It helps us improve. I'm really proud of all of the work we've done over the last several legislative sessions," House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, said in a phone interview. "Those are all good things, and I think that eventually we'll see those returns. Having said that, I do think that there's more work that remains to be done." Some New Mexico lawmakers question if the state's increased spending and new policies are yielding results. "We have had unprecedented investments in early childhood education, we've had the Zuni lawsuit and Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit, and even this year, the judge says we are not making improvements on educational outcomes," Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, said in a phone interview. "It's time for parents to be in charge of their kid's education and for dollars to follow students. We are so far behind the curve ... we can look to any state and do better." She also expressed support for school-choice programs, noting declining enrollment in public schools and saying that "poverty is an excuse" and that "if poverty is keeping children in a failing school system, all the more reason to pass school choice." "The courts agreed the families who felt like the public education system was failing them went to court, and the courts agreed that New Mexico is failing to adequately educate students. The remedy was to give money to the system that was failing students," Dow said. "It's time to stop funding the same system, and one size will never fit all."
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Maryland ‘languishes' in middling reports for children's well-being
Maryland saw sharp improvement in its education ranking on this year's Kids Count report. A crossing guard sees students and parents across the street after school in this Aug. 14, 2024, file photo at Fort Cavazos. (Photo by Janecze Wright/Fort Cavazos Public Affairs. U.S Army) Maryland has made strides in economic stability for families, according a new report, but drops in education and childhood health indicators have muddied the picture for child well-being in the state. The Annie E. Casey Foundation's 2025 Kids Count data book, the 36th version of the annual report, ranked Maryland 21st in the nation in overall child well-being, according data released Monday. While still ahead of the majority of states, Maryland only dfiniehed one place higher than last year's report, frustrating some advocates who hoped to see greater improvements. 'Maryland is consistently one of the wealthiest states in America, yet for too long, we have languished in the middle of the pack when it comes to the well-being of our children,' said Laura Weeldreyer, executive director of the Maryland Family Network. 'They are counting on us … We can make Maryland a great place to be a little kid.' The annual Kids Count report assesses 16 metrics in four categories: economic well-being, education, health and community support. This year, the report compares data from before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to reflect how states have bounced back since the global health crisis and where they've struggled. Maryland did best on economic well-being in this year's report, making the top 10 overall, up from 18th place just last year. Nonso Umunna, director of the center's Kids Count initiative, attributes Maryland's gains in its economic well-being to policies such as Maryland's $15 minimum wage and tax credits for low-income familie, as those policies help families support young children. 'Maryland has always been somewhere in the middle in terms of ranking,' Umunna said. 'In the area economic quality and security, we have seen improvements.' In 2023, Maryland had not only improved in all four metrics that the report considers for economic stability, but also performed better than the national averages in 2023. For example, 20% of Maryland children's parents lacked secure employment in 2023. While that's still a significant proportion of kids, it's an improvement from 2019, when 24% of children's parents lacked secure employment. Meanwhile, 25% of children nationally were of families where their parents lacked secure employment in 2023. Maryland also saw a smaller percentage of children in poverty in 2023 at 11%, down slightly from 2019 data that reported 12% of Maryland kids in poverty. Meanwhile, 16% of kids nationwide lived in poverty in 2023. But Umunna warns progresses made in Maryland could be undone by proposals under discussion at the federal level, as President Donald Trump (R) continues reducing the federal workforce with layoffs and Congress considers major cuts to federal safety nets such as Medicaid. Umunna also noted that those federal policies could worsen categories where Maryland is already struggling: education and health. 'There's a lot of work to be done, seeing these numbers trending in the right direction, and if we take away any of those things … we risk reversing the progress we've made,' Umunna said. Although Maryland ranked 18th in education in this year's report, up from 22nd last year, the report found no improvements in its education indicators compared to pre-pandemic data. National test scores released in January showed Maryland's improvement in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math last year. However, 75% of eighth graders were not proficient in math and 66% of fourth graders didn't read at a proficient level in 2023. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The eighth grade math proficiency reflected a national struggle to bounce back from learning losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report. Maryland falls behind the national average here, with 73% of eighth graders nationwide not proficient in math in 2023. Besides making 'full investments' in the state's Blueprint for Maryland's Future education reform plan, Umunna said there should be more investment in math and technology-related education. 'These are jobs that are going to loom large in the future,' he said. 'We have to prepare students to compete in that environment to be able to compete with their colleagues nationally and internationally in that particular field.' Health is the only category in the report where Maryland falls behind a majority of states. Kids Count ranks Maryland 28th this year. Maryland has been slipping in the rankings since the 2022 Kids Count report, when it ranked 18th in the nation for health. The report found that there was an increase in kid and teen deaths, with 30 per 100,000 deaths occurring in 2023, compared to 24 per 100,000 in 2019. Ummuna said that the Maryland data reflects a similar trend nationwide, with some of the increase in fatalities attributed to rising firearm deaths and drug overdoses. The Kids Count report this year says the percentage of uninsured children has increased, from about 3% in 2019 to 5% in 2023. The Maryland Department of Health did not respond to request to comment on the state's falling rank in the report. – Maryland Matters reporter William J. Ford contributed to this report.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Missouri continues to lag behind most states in children's health, report finds
(Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent). Missouri ranked in the bottom third of all states for children's health, according to a report released Monday — due in part to a high rate of child and teen deaths. The annual Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which used data from 2023, evaluated all states on four metrics of child well-being: health, economic well-being, education, and family and community. Missouri ranked near the middle of states for overall child well-being, at 27th out of 50, weighed down by poor performance in health and education. Missouri's rankings in the four categories were: 13th in economic well-being, 33rd in education, 35th in health And 25th in family & community. 'Children's health remains an area of concern,' noted a press release Monday from Family and Community Trust, the Missouri-based nonprofit partner to Kids Count. Only nine states had higher rates of child and teen deaths in 2023 than Missouri, one of the factors considered in the health ranking. (Those were: Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alaska, Oklahoma and Montana.) Missouri generally ranks among the states with the highest rate of firearm deaths for kids. Firearms became the leading cause of kids' deaths in the United States in 2020, surpassing car accidents. While the national average in 2023 was 29 child and teen deaths per 100,000, that number was 37 deaths per 100,000 in Missouri. The national average rose overall in 2023. The report notes that while covid deaths contributed to the increase, the rise was largely due to rising firearm deaths and drug overdoses, particularly among teens ages 15 to 19. Also bringing Missouri's health ranking down: Missouri's rate of low-birth weight babies increased in 2023 from 2019 and is above the national average. Other factors helped Missouri's score. For one, Missouri has seen major improvements in children's insurance coverage since the state implemented Medicaid expansion in 2021. The rate of uninsured kids fell from 7% in 2019 to 5% in 2023, which is now on par with the national average. Nationally, Missouri saw among the sharpest declines in uninsured people overall from 2019 to 2023 with the expansion of Medicaid. Those gains could be threatened by Congress' budget proposal to reduce Medicaid spending in part by imposing more barriers to care. Teen births in the state have gone down, in line with national trends — though the state's average is still above the national one. The rate of overweight or obese kids has also improved in Missouri and is down to 31% of kids in 2023, on par with the national average. The rate of kids in poverty declined to 14% in the state in 2023, below the 16% national average. Missouri's education ranking slipped in recent years. In 2023, 77% of Missouri eighth graders were not proficient at math, according to the report, which is nearly 10 percentage points worse than 2019 and is worse than the national average. The press release from Family and Community Trust said the data show a 'continuing need to invest in education in Missouri.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nebraska sees dip in national ‘Kids Count' ranking for youth well-being
Nebraska ranks No. 10 in overall child well-being, according to the latest Kids Count data book. In this photo, Dimensions Education Programs in Lincoln provides a hands-on, experiential approach to learning that is based on the needs and curiosity of young children. (Courtesy of We Care for Kids) OMAHA — Nebraska dropped a notch — from No. 9 to No. 10 — in a national ranking for overall child well-being, according to the latest Kids Count data book, a 50-state examination of how youths are faring in post-pandemic America. The report, released Monday, shows that while still in the top 10, Nebraska's overall ranking has been trending down over the past few years, according to information collected and analyzed for the national Annie E. Casey Foundation. In the 2023 and 2022 data books, Nebraska ranked No. 8 overall. It was No. 7 in the 2021 report. The data book, now in its 36th year, presents national and state information from 16 indicators in four broad areas: economy, education, health, and family and community factors. Each state gets an overall well-being ranking and also is ranked by each of the four broader areas or domains. Advocates say Nebraska's overall ranking was driven by the state's strong economic showing, which considers poverty rates and the share of teens who are working or in school. For its economic health impact on youths, Nebraska scored as the third-best state. Voices for Children in Nebraska, in providing perspective, noted that the state's economy remained stable throughout the pandemic and post-pandemic recovery. It said 11% of children were in poverty in 2023, the same as before the pandemic started in 2019. About 81% of Nebraska families with children had at least one parent working full time in 2019, the same percentage as in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Meanwhile, according to the latest report, only 4% of teens ages 16 to 19 were not attending school or not working (the second-lowest share in the nation, says Voices for Children in Nebraska). 'The economic picture didn't crumble with the pandemic,' said Josh Shirk, research coordinator for Voices for Children in Nebraska. He said expansion of food programs for kids and the child tax credit helped. Nebraska 'is dragging behind,' however, in education, Shirk said. Reading scores for fourth graders worsened since 2015 and, he said, the pandemic appeared to exacerbate the problem. According to the report, the share of kids in the fourth grade not reading at a proficient level rose from 63% in 2019 to 72% in 2024. In addition to Nebraska's No. 3 rank for economic well-being, Nebraska in the 2025 data book was ranked No. 21 in the education domain; No. 17 in health and No. 15 in family and community factors. The annual data book is intended to help policy makers, advocates and communities make decisions and policies that help young people thrive. 'We know what kids need to grow up healthy and connected so they can thrive as adults — stable homes, strong schools, nutritious food, meaningful relationships and opportunities to learn, play and grow,' said Juliet Summers, executive director at Voices for Children, Nebraska's representative in the Casey Foundation's Kids Count network. Summers said programs that meet those needs are smart investments. 'Nebraska has a lot to be proud of, but also plenty of work still to do to maximize opportunity for all our state's children,' she said. Shirk said the kids-focused organization is concerned with what is ahead, as Congress grapples with the national budget. 'Things like food insecurity, health insurance. Those numbers could get much worse over the next few years if we take away programs,' he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
