California not making the grade for children

01-04-2011

By Tracy Garcia/Los Angeles Daily News

An annual report card by a nonprofit group that analyzes what California is doing for its children gives poor to mediocre grades in several areas, including education and health care. And that's a concern for educators statewide, who say California can do better for its kids despite the ongoing economic crisis. And if it doesn't, experts say, everyone will pay later with higher crime and an increased number of dropouts. "The question no longer is should we do these things, it's why haven't we done them?"' said Ted Lempert, president of Children Now, a statewide research and advocacy group. Every year, the Children's Report Card analyzes and grades key areas of children's well-being. The report card, released late last month, gives a D for K-12 education and a B-plus in after-school programs - the only B earned in the report card. Overall, the state averaged a C-minus, the report showed. Children Now attributes the low grades, which have been going on for several years now, to the disproportional state budget cuts that impact kids, versus other budgetary items. The report says California ranks near last among the 50 states on a number of measures of education spending - when adjusted for cost-of-living, California ranks 44th in per-pupil spending. (more…)

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