Children count
Report by nonpartisan group suggests next census, if accurate, could bump up funding
Texas ranks 43rd in the nation for child well-being, and any chance for improvement could rely on the 2020 census, according to a survey by a nonpartisan group.
AUSTIN — Texas ranks 43rd in the nation for child well-being and any chance for improvement could rely on the 2020 Census, according to an annual survey of key statistics released Tuesday by a nonpartisan, nonprofit group.
The 2018 Kids Count Data Book, by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, uses publicly available statistics to rank states in four areas of child well-being: health, education, economic well-being, and family and community. Texas ranked 43rd overall and was well behind most states in the individual categories, ranking 35th in economic well-being, 32nd in education, 41st in health and 47th in family and community conditions.
Experts at the foundation said the 2020 Census could play a key role in improving statewide statistics because federal funding for child welfare programs is based on census data. Researchers are concerned about a possible under-count of young child in the 2020 Census.
The Trump administration has proposed adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census, and advocacy groups worry it will discourage participation. The Census is required to count all people residing in the country, regardless of citizenship or immigration status.
The top 10 federal programs allocate $160 billion for children based on census data, said Laura Speer, associate director of policy reform and advocacy at the foundation. Programs like Head Start, Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Children’s Health Insurance Program all rely on census data to determine funding.
“This year’s report shows that there’s been progress in kids’ well-being, but we’re afraid that could be jeopardized if there is an under-count of young children in the 2020 Census,” Speer said. She said in the 2010 census, 1 million children under the age of 5 were not counted across the country.
The report emphasized the need to accurately count children who live in hard-to-count census tracts, which include relatively new neighborhoods, multi-generational homes and children without a permanent
address.
In Houston, there are 170,000 children under the age of 5, 38 percent of which live in hard-to-count census tracts, said Kristie Tingle, a research analyst at the Austinbased Center for Public Policy Priorities.
Tingle said the state’s poor ranking reflects Texas’ limited investment in health and education programs for children.
Conservative activists and politicians, though, argue there is no correlation between the money Texas spends and improvement in a child’s conditions.
Conservative groups declined to comment in detail on the report until they could analyze the data themselves. But in the past, Republican leaders have pointed to improvements in the economy as the best predictor of higher living standards.
Texas child poverty and health insurance rates have improved, reflecting national trends. Twentytwo percent of children live in poverty, down from 26 percent in 2010. But Texas remains worse than the national average of 19 percent.
About 9 percent of children are living without health insurance, down from 14 percent in 2010, according to federal statistics, but well above the national average of 4 percent.
Tingle said the data is important in considering policy ahead of the 2019 legislative sessions.
“When you look at this data, there is definitely kind of a sense that we need to do something about this,” Tingle said. “We can, if we make choices to invest in our children and make sure we have healthy, economically stable communities for children to grow up in, and make sure they have access to a good education wherever they are in Texas.”