Hawaii landed in the middle of the pack, ranking 24th for child well-being among the 50 states, according to the 2018 Kids Count Data Book released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The best place to be a kid this year is New Hampshire, followed by Massachusetts and Vermont. Rounding out the bottom were Louisiana, New Mexico and Mississippi, which came in last.
Ivette Rodriguez Stern, Hawaii Kids Count project director at the University of Hawaii Center on the Family, said research shows a link between spending and outcomes for children.
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Here’s how Hawaii compares with the national averages in the 2018 Kids Count Data Book:
INDICATOR / HAWAII / UNITED STATES
Children without health insurance 2% 4%
Children living in poverty 10% 19%
Children in single-parent families 31% 35%
Household head lacks a high school diploma 7% 14%
Teens who abuse alcohol or drugs 4% 5%
Fourth-graders not proficient in reading 68% 65%
Eighth-graders not proficient in math 73% 67%
Children in households with a high housing cost 40% 32%
Source: 2018 Kids Count Data Book, www.aecf.org
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“That Northeast cluster, consistently ranking high, are the states that are spending on child-related programs, education and health programs,” she said. “There is clear research that shows that states that do well are the ones that are making those public investments.”
The Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation publishes the data book annually as a snapshot of how children are faring in different states based on 16 indicators that cover health, education, economic and “family and community” categories.
Hawaii tended to hover near the national average on most indicators, but there were differences. It ranked well in health, placing 13th nationally, and 12th in “family and community” arenas. But it placed 30th in the economic well-being category and 37th in education out of the 50 states.
The indicator that has shown consistent improvement in recent years is the rate of teenagers giving birth, which keeps falling. The most recent figure for the Aloha State was 19 births per 1,000 teens in 2016, a dramatic drop from 33 in 2010 and 23 in 2014.
Nationally, the teen pregnancy rate has also been trending downward, and reached 20 births per 1,000 teens in 2016. The indicator is part of the “family and community” category.
On the economic front, Hawaii’s housing costs are among the highest in the country, with 40 percent of children living in a household with a “high housing cost burden” compared with 32 percent in the country as a whole. However, the number of children living below the federal poverty line — 10 percent — was well below the national average of 19 percent. That threshold was $24,339 for a family of four in 2016.
Deborah Zysman, executive director of the advocacy group Hawaii Children’s Action Network, said the report results suggest that Hawaii’s children could benefit from more spending on education, starting with preschool.
“We need to be looking at new ways, creative ways, of investing more money into the education pipeline,” she said. “Some people will argue that money isn’t everything, but it sure doesn’t hurt.”
To read the report, visit aecf.org.
