Warning signs amid good news

By The Gazette Editorial Board

Every year, the Annie E. Casey Foundation compiles its national Kids Count project report. And since the first one published in 1990, Iowa consistently has ranked high overall in this state-by-state comparison on the status of children.

The latest annual report, announced last week, held more good news for Iowa. Our state ranked sixth overall, based on the sum of 10 key indicators that measure health care, education and economic factors that affect the well-being of our kids.

But within the report are warning signs that Iowans should take to heart. They signal trends that likely have worsened during the depths of the current economic recession.

Comparing 2000 to 2007, Iowa improved in five Kids Count measurements, including infant mortality, death rates among all children and the teen birthrate. The state also ranked No. 1 in having the lowest percentage of teenagers not in school and not a high school graduate - 3 percent, which is half the national figure and down a whopping 40 percent.

All of those trends are certainly welcome. But there was some troubling data, as well.

From 2000 to 2008, the number of children living in poverty climbed from 13 percent to 14 percent - a nearly 8 percent increase for a national rank of 14th. The percentage of kids in single-parent households grew from 25 percent to 27 percent, also an 8 percent rise, putting Iowa seventh nationally.

When you consider these figures don't include impact from the depths of our economic recession, it's likely more kids are being in low-income conditions.

Poverty and single-parent households are often companions. In the Cedar Rapids area, 72 percent of single-parent homes headed by women and 45 percent of those headed by a man have income below what's needed for basic needs. Here, that means an hourly wage of $15.08 for a single parent with one child, according to the Community Condition Report by United Way of East Central Iowa.

Education level affects employability and earnings. Those without a high school degree have a jobless rate of nearly twice those who did earn a diploma. And earning a college degree brings substantially more job-hunting success - and higher wages - than a high school degree.

When you consider that only 60 percent of low-income kids in our area are proficient in reading skills, well, you get the picture: There's much work to be done to reverse these disturbing trends.

United Way and its member agencies are among the organizations and individuals trying to address the problems. More training for parents, access to adult education to improve job skills, and more and better child care are their stated priorities - ones that our leaders should support and all Iowans should embrace.