One out of every five Michigan school children live in poverty. School is Only One Area That Needs Improvement for Michigan Kids
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More than just schools need fixing for Michigan children to have adequate support.
The main problem is that one in five children lives in poverty.
There are fewer high school dropouts but the educational system is still not producing the workforce Michigan needs.
Those are the conclusions of the Michigan League for Human Services on completion of the annual Kids Count Michigan Education Data Book 2010: The Education Connection.
While schools are the key to producing Michigan's next generation of skilled workers, education doesn't start and stop at the classroom door.
A new report concludes that other supports needed by children are unraveling. Connecting the dots between education and other areas of children's lives is the theme of Kids Count in Michigan Data Book 2010: The Education Connection. The annual Kids Count book looks at data trends in 15 areas and ranks the 83 counties based on the recent rates.
"We can't look at our education system in isolation. Michigan must make sure children are healthy and have adequate economic support and that a strong child welfare system is in place to protect children," said Jane Zehnder-Merrell, director of the Kids Count in Michigan project at the Michigan League for Human Services.
"Unfortunately, the data show that support systems are strained and overloaded -- we're not keeping up with the needs of kids."
Chief among the risk factors is the dramatic increase in poverty with roughly one in every five children in Michigan living in poverty. The rates are much higher for children of color: Nearly one out of every two African American children and more than one out of three Hispanic children live in poverty.
Another indicator of economic trouble is the rising number of children eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. Eligibility is pegged at 185 percent of poverty -- roughly $40,000 a year or less for a family of four. The rate jumped 26 percent in just three years, rising from 36 percent of children in 2006 to nearly 46 percent in 2009.
Additionally, the state experienced a 25 percent rise in the rate of confirmed victims of abuse and neglect between 2000 and 2009. A federal report finds that 90 percent of the cases are due to neglect, often made worse by poverty.
Overall, Michigan has improved on eight measures, but worsened on six. A comparison could not be made on one indicator because the data has changed.
The biggest statewide erosion in child well-being was in the area of economic security, while the biggest improvements were in scores on the state Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests, though national comparisons show that MEAP reading standards are well below national standards.
And while the new Data Book shows a 25 percent decrease in the number of high school dropouts from 2007 to 2009, there remain 16,124 teens who left school without a diploma in 2009.
"These kids are at greater risk of unemployment, poverty, substance abuse, incarceration, and poor health -- all of which will cost the state and communities," said Jack Kresnak, President & CEO of Michigan?s Children, a partner in the Kids Count release.
"The decrease in the overall number of dropouts is great, but Michigan can't offer employers its best possible workforce until all students achieve at least a minimal education with a high school diploma."
Cuts in recent years have hurt, including family preservation programs, child abuse and neglect prevention, income supports to desperately poor households, teen parent counseling and subsidized child care for low-wage working parents. In addition, a proposed elimination of the state Earned Income Tax Credit would push more children into poverty.
"This report speaks clearly -- we need to invest in children, making sure that they have what they need to succeed in school and in life," said Michigan League for Human Services President & CEO Gilda Z. Jacobs. "We cannot afford to keep cutting programs that help grow our next generation of skilled workers and taxpayers."
Kids Count in Michigan is a collaboration of the Michigan League for Human Services, which researches and writes the reports, and Michigan?s Children, which assists with dissemination of the data to communities across the state. This year, the analysis of the dropout data was written by Michele Corey of Michigan's Children.
The project is part of a broad national effort to improve conditions for children and their families. Funding for the project is provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Detroit-based Skillman Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation and local United Ways. The annual data book is available from the Michigan League for Human Services and on the web at www.milhs.org. More state and local data are available at the Kids Count Data Center, www.datacenter.kidscount.org.
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