Children in Arkansas have less opportunity to succeed than their peers nationally, according to a new report released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation today.
Black children face the most barriers in the state followed by Hispanics and whites, the report states. The report states Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders have the most opportunities to succeed.
“What the data clearly shows is that Arkansas has a long way to go to ensure that all kids, especially kids of color, are positioned to thrive and succeed,” said Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families. “I really think it should be a wake up call not only for policymakers, but for the public or philanthropicinstitutions.”
Recommendations include urging policymakers to gather and analyze racial and ethnic data to create new and better policies and programs, and to develop strategies that help such groups find jobs once they become adults.
The report uses statistics from a variety of measures to create its own index scale. The measures include birth-weight, preschool enrollment, reading and math scores, teenage birthrates, high school graduation rates, continued education rates along with parent’s education, relationship and household income.
“The opportunities you have, the ability you need to succeed should not depend on your race, where you live or your parent’s income,” Huddleston said. “Our children of color are not doing as well as children of color in most other states.”
Data from all of the measures is compiled and weighted to create an index from 0 to 1,000 with 1,000 being the best, Laura Speer, associate director of policy reform and advocacy for the foundation, said.
The higher the number the more likely the children will meet milestones such as high school graduation and postsecondary education. The report says the factors were chosen from previous research that analyzed what factors were needed for a child to reach middle-class economic status in adulthood.
“Rather than just looking at each individual measure, we wanted to come up with a way to look at all of them cumulatively,” Speer said. She said the story is more than whether a child is reading atgrade level.
The foundation has been releasing a report for the past 25 years which looks at factors that affect children state by state, Speer said. However, the report released today focuses more in-depth on members of minority groups.
Black children in the state received a 270 on the 0 to 1,000 scale. Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Wisconsin black children received a lower score than black children in Arkansas. The national average for black children is a score of 345.
Arkansas had 443,905 black residents in 2012, according to the U. S. Census Bureau.
Speer said it was not surprising to see Arkansas rank low for serving black children. She said Arkansas historically has been at the bottom of the pack along with its bordering Southeastern states. However, she said it was interesting to see Wisconsin and Michigan near the bottom.
“It tells you something about the story of African-Americans in this country in the last century or so,” Speer said.
Black families who moved for manufacturing jobs in these states are suffering as those jobs have disappeared, Speer said.
Hispanic children in the Arkansas received a 369 on the scale behind the national level of 404, according to the report. Georgia, Nebraska, New Mexico, Tennessee, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Nevada, Rhode Island and Alabama all ranked behind Arkansas.
According to the U.S. census report there were 176,989 Hispanic residents in the state in 2012.
Speer said Arkansas still lagged behind the nation in serving Hispanic children but she was surprised about how well they were doing.
“I expected the numbers to be a little bit lower,” Speer said. “I know a lot of Latino kids in Arkansas are relatively recent immigrants. Their parents come to do jobs that are not very well paid.”
The barriers white children face in the state was the largest surprise, Speer said.
Arkansas white children received a score of 577 in comparison to the 704 score white children received nationally. Kentucky, Mississippi and West Virginia ranked below Arkansas.
Arkansas had 2,359,862 whites in 2012, according to the census estimate.
Asian-American and Pacific Islanders scored 682 on the scale. The national average was 776 for the same group. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Alaska scored below Arkansas. There were more than 50,000 Asian-American or Pacific Islanders living in Arkansas in 2012, according to the census report.
Huddleston said the economic success of the state and nation depends on the fate of children of minority groups. He said states and regions attract corporations and business on the basis of the population’s preparedness for the workplace.
The U.S. Census Bureau has projected that by 2018members of minority groups will represent a majority of children in the United States, the foundation report states. It states that a majority of the U.S. labor force will be made up of people of color by 2030.
“We have large portions of the workforce that is not getting the opportunities to succeed,” Huddleston said. “That hurts not only them but all of us.”
Funding to help minority populations in Arkansas should be a top priority for lawmakers, Huddleston said. He said funding for things like pre-kindergarten along with after school and summer programs should be a necessity.
More funding for the state’s Arkansas B etter Chance program has been a goal for state Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville. The program provides free or discounted pre-school programs for families in the state.
The program serves about 24,000 children in the state, Lindsey said. He said there are more than 15,000 on a waiting list. Lindsey said funding limits the state’s ability to increase capacity.
The program has not received an increase in funding since 2008, Lindsey said. He said the $100 million program would need $16 million to meet cost-of-living increases.
“Utilities go up, all other expenses go up,” Lindsey said. “That serves 280 institutions that provide programs. I have heard speculation, rumors that some of these programs are having trouble continuing to meet the levelof service that they have been providing.”
A document provided by Lindsey shows that children who qualify for free and reduced lunches do better on kindergarten entry assessments in the state if they attended the Better Chance Program. It shows that children who attended the program had 54 percent of needed math concepts.
Children who did not attend pre-school had 43 percent of developed math concepts. The Better Chance Program students also scored higher on oral communication, written language development and attentive behavior.
“There is no doubt to the facts that prove that pre-K is very, very effective in helping close the achievement gap,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey asked legislators to approve a $2 million appropriation from the state’s unobligated surplus fund for the program last year in the Joint Budget Committee. He said it needed 29 votes to pass but received 20.
This summer Lindsey said he plans to go before the Joint Budget Committee again and that this time he plans to ask for $16 million in funding for the program.
“There is going to be pressure to create a new prison system,” Lindsey said. “You have to balance the public safety of people verse the education of people. We can find money to put folks in jail, but we can’t find money to educate kids. But if we can educate kids they are less likely to go to jail.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/01/2014