Children's Report Card for California

Children's Report Card for California January 12th, 2009 2009 California Report Card has been published by Children Now This report examines key indicators that are vital to insure a decent quality of life for children in California. These indicators include health (such as mental health, adolescent health, health coverage), education (such as early care, K-12, after school), and integrative services (location and delivery of services, prevention of diseases such as obesity and public safety). The report evaluates the status of these key indicators using a school-report card model (i.e. grades of A, B, C, etc.). Also included are policy developments within the last year of 2008, as well as future policy objectives and priorities for some of the indicators discussed. Selected Findings: Working families in California (with two parent wage earners) need to earn 3 times the poverty level (about $72,300 a year) to afford an adequate quality of life for a child (to include childcare, education, insurance, food, etc.); yet one in two children live in families earning less than $70,000 in California (referenced on pg. 2). One in four children in families under the poverty line is at risk for depression, compared to one out of six children in families earning 3 times or more above the poverty line (referenced on pg. 13). Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for children (aged 10-18) in California (referenced on pg. 13). More than two-thirds (69%) of students who dropped out of high school in California in 2007 were Latino or African-American (referenced on pg. 25). About 50% of 8th graders in California are enrolled in Algebra (compared to just about 33% in 2003) (referenced on pg. 26).