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June 12, 2024 |  By: Deborah Van Fleet - Public News Service

NE ranks in top 10 for childhood well-being despite rising poverty rates

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By Deborah Van Fleet - Public News Service

Nebraska ranked in the top 10 for children's well-being on the 2024 Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Book.

Josh Shirk, research coordinator at Voices for Children in Nebraska, said although the state's No. 9 ranking is good news, the fact the state declined on seven of 15 measures between 2019 and 2022 is concerning.

Nebraska ranked fifth for children's economic well-being, which Shirk noted is driven largely by the state's low unemployment rate. However, the percentage of Nebraska children living in poverty, which decreased at the national level, rose from 11% to 14% in the past year.

"These child poverty rates increasing at a time when many states saw declines can be traced directly to the loss of federal child tax credits and other economic supports," Shirk explained. "Other states are filling in the gap, but Nebraska isn't."

A larger percentage of Nebraska children were also living in households with a high housing-cost burden. Shirk pointed out the worsening of the two measures showed employment is not translating to economic security for many Nebraska families. On the bright side, the state showed improvements in the percentages of children with health insurance and of 3- and 4-year-olds attending preschool.

Pandemic learning loss was a major focus of this year's report.

Leslie Boissiere, vice president of external affairs for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said they found "significant dips" nationwide from 2019 to 2022. In particular, in fourth grade reading and eighth grade math skills. Boissiere stressed it does not bode well for the students or the country.

"As a country, we're failing to prepare our children to be able to compete in the competitive global workforce," Boissiere contended. "You look at the industries and the jobs where there is significant growth and where the wages are significant, they're largely stem-related fields."

Nebraska students also showed academic declines, with 3% fewer fourth graders proficient in reading and 6% fewer eighth graders proficient in math.

Another focus of this year's report was chronic absenteeism, which increased dramatically during the pandemic and is a known obstacle to school success. Chronic absenteeism at the national level was at 30% in 2022. Shirk acknowledged Nebraska fared a bit better, at 23%, but emphasized it is something in need of continued attention.

"Rather than labeling students or parents as criminals due to attendance challenges -- which happens -- we believe lawmakers should embrace positive approaches to engage families in the community, to set them up better outside of school, so they can arrive at school ready to learn," Shirk outlined.

Before the pandemic, 16% of Nebraska students were chronically absent.