Report: State’s kids better off, but minorities still lag

Florida has fewer children living in poverty, a lower teen birth rate and greater proficiency among young students in reading and math, according to the newest rankings of the 2018 Kids Count Data Book, released Tuesday from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

But the annual report card on the well-being of the nation’s youth also noted that the state had “troubling disparities” that persist for children of color and those from low-income and immigrant families.

“Our rankings in … economic well-being, education, health, and family and community are slowly moving in the right direction,” said Florida Kids Count Director Dr. Norín Dollard. “Following statewide expansions of health insurance programs, more kids than ever have access to the health care

they need to thrive. But further investments are needed to reach the Florida children who lack coverage.”

The report is largely based on data from 2016, the most recent available, for 16 indicators of wellbeing, from the highest education level attained by their parents to the percentage of underweight infants to how many teens abuse drugs and alcohol. As a whole, 21 percent of Florida’s children lived below the poverty line in 2016, compared with 23 percent a year earlier and 25 percent in 2012.

That contributed to an overall rank of 42 out of 50 in economic well-being for Florida children.

“For the first time in several years, there have been some significant inroads into reducing child poverty and improvements in parents’ ability to get full employment,” the report says. “However, many families struggle to make ends meet, and 39 percent of children live in households that spend roughly a third or more of their monthly incomes on housing, which reduces discretionary spending on children” and often reduces the amount of time parents can spend with their kids.

Florida’s kids fared far better in education, where the state ranked 24th in the nation. Florida is above the national average for preschool enrollment, the report said, and “notable gains” have been achieved in third-grade reading, an important predictor of academic success.

The Florida Department of Education recently announced that when the National Assessment of Educational Progress released its annual report card in April, Florida was the only state to have improved significantly on three of the four NAEP education measures in 2017. The largest improvement was found in high school students graduating on time.

But the Kids Count researchers also have noted what they called “large and growing disparities” between the state’s white children and children of color, who make up more than half of residents younger than 18.

Hispanic and AfricanAmerican children, especially, are disproportionately affected by poverty, and the impact is magnified by their rising numbers and high concentration in poor neighborhoods, Dollard said.

A 2017 report from the organization measured children’s progress on key education, health and economic milestones by racial and ethnic groups. The report’s index used a composite score for each of those areas on a scale of one (lowest) to 1,000 (highest), with higher scores reflecting better circumstances for children. African-American children in Florida fared worst, with a score of 364, while Hispanic children scored 524 and white children 683.

“This has implications for their welfare, as well as for Florida’s economic well-being in the long run,” Dollard said.

State and national Kids Count officials also are worried about a potential undercount of children in the 2020 Census — which they say could lead to overcrowded classrooms, shuttered Head Start programs, understaffed hospital emergency rooms and more children without health care.

Federal and state governments and private foundations all rely on the Census numbers to estimate the population’s needs.

“If we don’t count children, we render their needs invisible and their futures uncertain,” said Casey Foundation President and CEO Patrick McCarthy.