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Although they are more likely to graduate from high school and less likely to abuse drugs compared with prior years, children are worse off in Texas than their peers in all but seven states, a study says.
According to its latest study based on 2014 data, the Annie E. Casey Foundation determined that Texas ranked 43rd in the nation for child well-being, slipping two slots from the prior year. Digging deeper into the data, it says:
“There are a lot of families who struggle and work extremely hard to try to create a good environment for their kids, but sometimes poverty can be an overwhelming force when you look at child well-being outcomes,” said Jennifer Lee, a research associate with the left-leaning Center for Public Policy Priorities, which is a liaison to the foundation for the report. “A lot those effects from childhood are going to have effects later on.”
Since 1990, the foundation has been ranking child well-being based on economic factors, education, health and family and community environments. Its recent efforts have focused on how child well-being has improved after the recession ended in 2009.
Nationally, health coverage of children and high school graduation rates have improved while fewer teens are abusing drugs and alcohol. Teen pregnancies also have dropped as a result of the increased use of contraception and better education, said Laura Speer, the foundation’s associate director for policy reform and advocacy.
However, the national child poverty rate has stayed stagnant after increasing the year before. Speer said the lackluster rates show that the aftermath of the recession still lingers.
“For teenagers who are going into young adulthood, they are coming in with more advantages, but they are facing a much steeper climb as adults,” Speer said.
Although the state has fallen behind its peers in certain areas, Texas has also improved in others:
The number of children without health insurance in Texas has also declined by more than 400,000 since 2008, thanks in part to the Affordable Care Act and more outreach about the importance of having health coverage, Lee said. She said that Texas can cover more children if it expands Medicaid, which would help cover adults who make too much to go on Medicaid under the current limits, but too little to qualify for tax credits to buy health insurance in the federally run marketplace, where people can compare and buy coverage.
Leery of the federal government’s promise to help pay for the Medicaid expansion and the ultimate cost to the state, former Gov. Rick Perry, Gov. Greg Abbott and other state Republican leaders have opposed the effort.
Julie Chang
20 June 2016
