I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The annual Annie E. Casey Foundation report, called “Kid’s Count,” says child and youth welfare in New Mexico has increased from 48th in the nation to 43rd in the nation.
According to a statement released by New Mexico Voices for Children, New Mexico has improved its ranking in six of ten indicators of child well being since 2000.
The most striking improvements are in New Mexico’s infant mortality and teen dropout rates. New Mexico’s infant mortality rate is lower than the national average, at 14th in the nation.
New Mexico’s teen dropout rate has been cut in half since 2000, placing us at 36th nationally. New Mexico Voices for Children explained that this indicator is defined as the percentage of 16-19 year old who are not enrolled in school or are not high school graduates, which may not track exactly with how the state Public Education Department determines dropout rates.
In a statement, Voices executive director Eric Griego said the state’s increased investment in Medicaid and education is making a difference.
“The expansion of our investment in Medicaid and education, especially Pre-K and K-12, during the Richardson/Denish administration is starting to pay off,” Griego is quoted as saying.
But, Griego warned, more work is needed, especially given the current economic downturn. The data is based on the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, most of it from 2006-2007. And New Mexico still ranks among the bottom ten in four indicators:
New Mexico ranks among the bottom ten states on four of the ten key indicators used in the report: teen birth rate (ranking 49th among the states), children without secure parental employment (ranking 44th), child poverty rate (ranking 47th), and children living in single-parent families (ranking 48th).
Voices has prepared a supplement to the Data Book that shows more detail about New Mexico’s rankings, along with what they believe the state would need to do to rank nationally at number one. Of specific concern for New Mexico are racial and ethnic disparities, which the national data book showed were large.
“Because New Mexico is a minority-majority state, we are concerned that the report shows that, on several measures, Hispanic child well-being is worse than child well-being in the US as a whole,” said Christine Hollis, KIDS COUNT program manager at New Mexico Voices for Children.
Hispanic teens, for example, have the highest teen birth rate nationally (83 births per 1000 females ages 15-19, compared to the overall teen birth rate of 42 per 1000), and more than one-third of the country’s Hispanic children live in single-parent families.
“New Mexico also has the second highest percentage of Native-Americans, and the indicators for Native-American children are dismal,” Hollis added.
Nationally, Native Americans have the highest teen death rate (95 deaths per 100,000 teens ages 15-19, as opposed to the national average of 64/100,000), and more than half (52 percent) of Native-American children live in families where no parent has full-time, secure employment, versus 33 percent of US children overall.
The Kid’s Count Data Book has been produced for two decades now, according to the release. During that time, New Mexico has always ranked near the bottom.
“We hit our highest overall ranking of 40th in 1995,” according to the Voices statement. “Our lowest ranking of 48th dogged us for five years in 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, and 2008.”
