Kids Count Finds 5-Year Education Improvement, Fewer Dropouts in Bay County

Annie E. Casey Foundation Releases Trends in Child Well-Being Report

January 23, 2010
By: Dave Rogers

The 2009 Kids Count in Michigan Data Book shows dramatic changes in demographics for children in Bay County:

Educational levels up;

Fewer high school dropouts;

Poverty relatively stable;

Child health improving; and

Abuse and neglect cases increasing.

Educational levels of local children improved from 2003 to 2008, the statistics show. The percentage of fourth graders below proficiency in MEAP math dropped from 36.6 percent to 8.7 percent. The state level is 12.1 percent.

(MEAP is the acronym for the Michigan Educational Assessment Program test offered under the auspices of the Michigan Department of Education).

While some 46.4 percent of eighth graders in Bay County in 2003 were below proficiency in MEAP math, in 2008 the percentage had improved to 27 percent. The state rate is 25.5 percent.

The high school dropout rate fell dramatically in one year from 222 individuals (14.8 percent) in 2007 to 179 individuals (11.9 percent) in 2008. The Michigan rate is 14.2 percent and Bay County is 54th among 78 counties ranked in dropout rates.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation, of Baltimore, Maryland, released the 20th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, profiling the well-being of America's children on a state-by-state basis and ranking states on 10 measures of well-being. Casey also calls for a "data revolution" that uses timely and reliable information to track the progress and improve the lives of vulnerable children. The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private charitable organization, dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States. It was established in 1948 by Jim Casey, one of the founders of UPS, and his siblings, who named the Foundation in honor of their mother.

In terms of economic security, although the percentage of children in poverty was relatively stable, other results in Bay County were not so favorable. The percentage of students receiving free/reduced price school lunches (based on family income levels) rose from 6,416 individuals and 39.1 percent in 2006 to 7,134 individuals and 45.5 percent in 2008, according to the survey.

Children in poverty was recorded at 17.1 percent for ages 0-17 in 2005, rising only slightly to 17.9 percent in 2007. Bay County was below the state rate of 19.3 percent.

The percentage of teenage (age 15-19) students per 1,000 giving birth fell over 10 years from 38.8 percent to 36.2 percent while teen deaths (per 100,000) rose from 73.5 percent to 77.9 percent.

Children in families investigated for abuse/neglect rose from 1,664 in 2000 to 2,647 in 2008. ###