[A]lthough Vermont fell several notches, it is still one of the top states in the nation for child-well being, according to a report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The 2018 Kids Count Data Book places the state in the top 10 nationally for all four key education indicators, resulting in an overall ranking of eighth. That’s down from third nationally in 2017.
Sarah Teel, research director at Voices for Vermont’s Children, said the Kids Count survey reflects a historical commitment to child well-being, but shows there is still work to be done.
“It’s still strong for a lot of kids, but there’s definitely a lot of systemic, structural inequality that remains,” she said.
Voices for Vermont’s Children is involved with the nationwide Kids Count project through conducting local research and partnering to release the study.
Vermont has consistently placed in the top 10 for years, according to Teel.
Vermont ranked third for family and community nationally. Although the state is 23rd for the percentage of kids living in families headed by a single parent, only 6 percent of children live in a household headed by someone who doesn’t have at least a high school diploma. The teen birth rate also declined over the past decade, placing it fourth lowest in the country.
The state’s second strongest category was education, as 53 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds attend preschool, and Vermont ranks third among states for proficiency on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in reading and 10th for math.
Vermont placed 10th for health. Only 2 percent of children lack insurance coverage, better than the national average.
Teel said Voices for Vermont’s Children tries to take this data as a starting point for where policies can be implemented to direct change. She said Vermont’s performance in economic well-being, 26th, is high as a result of the burden of high housing costs, and parents without consistent employment.
Vermont is 16th in the nation for poverty, with 15 percent of children in that category. About 27 percent of children live in households in which no parent has full-time, year-round employment, and 30 percent of children live in households spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
“We need to attend to the factors that are either causing kids to leave school and become disconnected youth or not working,” Teel said. “There’s a lot of attention in this state that is given to younger youth, which is great, but we also need to focus on the older population.”
Teel said Voices for Vermont’s Children plans to address problems raised by the report by advocating for policies to improve social safety net programs. This includes increasing funding for Reach Up, the state’s parent job-training program.
“I think that regardless of how the national economy is doing, we need to make sure that we are doing enough as a state to protect kids,” she said.
This year’s Kids Count survey also focuses attention on the importance of effectively counting children in census reports, specifically in 2020. Funding is typically allocated to state welfare programs based in part on this data, despite historic undercounting of young children, including 1 million in the 2010 census.
Children of color, low-income children and kids living in immigrant families are typically disproportionately undercounted. There is also concern around the recent addition of a citizenship question by the Trump administration, which some fear will decrease participation.
Laura Speer, associate director for policy reform and advocacy at the Casey Foundation, said reliable census data is critical to informing decisions around child well-being.
“An inaccurate census threatens to undermine essential resources for communities and erode many of the advancements made in recent years for our children — particularly children of color — for years to come,” Speer said in a news release.
