Annual Kids Count report reveals lows for Texas children in well-being categories

By Raquel Torres
On March 24, 2023

An annual report on the status of Texas children and youth revealed that Texas now ranks 45th in overall child well-being and 20% of children in the state are living in poverty with Black and Hispanic children accounting for the highest rates.

The state’s children also rank in the bottom half of the economic, education, health, and family and community categories, according to the 2022 Texas Kids Count report.

The news came Friday at Every Texan‘s unveiling of its report. Every Texan, a nonprofit whose mission is to strengthen public policy to expand opportunity and equity, presented the findings with Methodist Healthcare Ministries. 

Coda Rayo-Garza, research and data director of Every Texan, was the chief researcher and drafter of the 2022 study, which has been published annually for about two decades. She discussed differences in education, health outcomes and mental health in her presentation.

“We know that there’s long-standing trends when it comes to health and well-being outcomes, because they’re so persistent and because they’re a product of systemic racism and discrimination. Those are the issues that we have to continue to highlight,” said Rayo-Garza.

Many statistics haven’t changed, but a difference this year was a record low in child poverty rates in 2021.

“That was in large part due to the American Rescue Plan and the extension of the child tax credit and the actual cash benefits that families receive,” Rayo-Garza said. “What that shows us is that those things work.”

The Texas child poverty rate of 20% remains above the national average of 17%. According to Every Texan, Hispanic and Latino children account for 66% of children living in poverty, and 16% of children living in poverty are Black. 13% of non-Hispanic white children live in poverty. 

Researchers will keep looking at the rates to see how many families stay out of poverty, but many pandemic-era benefits are ending soon, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, said Rayo-Garza. And nonprofits have said they expect to see more San Antonio families in need of food.

Data presented showed that outcomes in education, health, safe communities and schools, and environment and health continue to mirror disparities. Data that Black and Hispanic children with asthma are more likely to be hospitalized for treatment reveals the state’s environment and climate is exacerbating health conditions for children in Texas. 

According to the American Lung Association, four areas in Texas, including the San Antonio-New Braunfels– Pearson area rank in the top 25 most polluted U.S. cities by ozone. 

Most of the data in the report was derived from the 2021 five-year U.S. Census American Survey, Rayo-Garza said.

After the presentation, state Rep. Diego Bernal (TX-123), Bexar County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores, City Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4) and Johnelle Sparks, University of Texas at San Antonio professor of demography discussed in a panel that although metrics on the status of children haven’t improved across the board, local government can try to fill in the gaps. 

“The state, I think, will spend some of that money in ways people can feel… some of it in public education, but not in a way that seems responsive to what we saw [in the report],” said Bernal. “You can go down the list of all the priorities, pick one, and you’ll see a tremendous amount of money and it’s spent in ways that does not reflect even an acknowledgement of the size of the problem. That’s why local leadership is so important.”

Clay-Flores said Bexar County is always underfunding. 

“The county got almost $300 million federal dollars for ARPA funding, and even if we had put all that into mental health for children, I still would’ve said we need more money,” Clay-Flores said. 

Clay-Flores said she was most proud Bexar County allocated $20 million to put full-time counselors and therapists in schools, which was relevant because the new report revealed Black, Hispanic and multiracial children have the highest rates of attempted suicide. 

Rocha Garcia said the city also underfunds some areas of economic and racial disparities across San Antonio. 

“We got lucky in the last two years with this unprecedented ARPA funding, so we get to invest,” she said. “It is our duty to allocate the money we have into these areas that need it most, but one of the things I think that lacks investment is health care.”

Rocha Garcia said there’s also a lack of investment in public housing because children need access to a stable quality of life. She mentioned that health care access and food deserts are among the current challenges, which some families have experienced for generations. 

“We can use Band-Aids on some items, but what is the long-term solution? We absolutely need some Band-Aids, we absolutely need these short-term investments and solutions that help the now, but we have to invest in the long-term consequences,” she said.

This piece was republished from the San Antonio Report.