ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997 TAG: 9703110067
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
Statewide data show children in Virginia to be better off than many, but there remains room for improvement.
VIRGINIA is doing far better by its children than other Southern states, and better for that matter than most states nationwide, according to a recent report, "Ending the Southern Deficit." That's good - but the report is useful also for identifying where Virginia could do better.
The report, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, uses indicators such as infant mortality, child poverty, children in single-parent homes, teen pregnancies, juvenile crime and violent deaths of youngsters to measure how well children in Southern states are faring. Virginia ranked 18th nationally, much higher than other Southern states - Kentucky, 36th; North Carolina, 39th; Arkansas, 40th; Georgia, 43rd; Tennessee, 44th; West Virginia, 45th; South Carolina, 46th; Alabama, 47th; Florida, 48th; Mississippi, 49th; and Louisiana, 50th. The data were taken from the national KIDS COUNT reports and analyzed by the University of Louisville's Urban Studies Institute.
Despite Virginia's high composite rating, the state does not rank high in every category. Though the state's infant-mortality rate has been steadily declining, for example, it remains higher than the national average and higher than three other Southern states (West Virginia, Kentucky and Florida). The infant-death rate is linked to problems such as poverty and teen pregnancy, and is also an outcome of inadequate access to medical care for pregnant women and newborns, especially in rural areas.
Also, indicators from high-growth, high-income suburbs of Northern Virginia contribute to Virginia's overall high ranking. Whether children living in, say, rural Appalachia or Southside Virginia are better off than the Southern and national averages remains an open question that cannot be answered by statewide averages.
The report, in short, is cause for congratulations but not complacency. The state's high ranking is welcome, but is no excuse to relax efforts to improve problem areas.
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