With the calendar turned to August, many Oklahoma parents are focused on back-to-school shopping, buying school supplies and picking out clothes for their child’s first day of school. However, the situation is more dire for many Oklahoma parents struggling to put a roof over their head and food on the family table.
A recent report showed that Oklahoma children and families have among the nation’s lowest ranking for child well-being. As the state affiliate for the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT program, the Oklahoma Policy Institute gathered data for the latest report showing Oklahoma ranked 46th nationally in overall child well-being.
In the categories forming the overall ranking, Oklahoma ranked 37th in health, 38th in economic well-being, 43rd in family and community context and 49th in education.
Such low rankings are not a surprise for advocates who are trying to reverse the trajectory for our children. A quick look at the statistics tells a somber story.
People are also reading…
More than 1in 5 Oklahoma children live in poverty. Nearly 1 in 5 Oklahoma children are experiencing food insecurity, with about 1 in 7 not having enough food to eat during the past week.
One in 4 children live in households where housing is more than 33% of annual income, and 1 in 5 households with children had little or no confidence in paying next month’s rent or mortgage. Those rates are even higher within our Black, Hispanic, and American Indian communities.
Statistics like these do not happen in a vacuum.
Oklahoma’s children are too often and too easily caught in systemic economic policies that criminalize poverty cycles, keep wages stagnant, discourage building affordable housing, and prevent workers from returning to the job market. Many families have severely limited access to health care, education, job training and resources that can help them advance.
During its March field hearings in Yukon, I testified before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee about how our state’s lack of quality, affordable child care keeps many Oklahomans out of the workforce.
In 2020-21, 12% of Oklahoma children ages birth to five had a family member who quit, changed or refused a job because of problems with child care. More often than not, this impacts women, who are five to eight times more likely than men to experience negative employment consequences related to caregiving.
Even if parents can find an opening at child care near their home, they often can’t pay for it. Oklahoma’s typical cost of center-based child care for a toddler was $8,399, which is 9% of the median income for a married couple in Oklahoma and nearly 30 percent of a single parent’s income.
Taken in total, these results show Oklahoma’s startling misalignment between our lofty ambitions for our state’s children and the current inadequate policies that prevent many Oklahoma children from reaching their potential.
To reverse the trajectory, our state elected officials and policymakers should provide consistent, sustained investments in programs and services that position our children for better futures.
During the annual budget cycle, state lawmakers must protect the revenue that funds the shared programs and services that serve our children. Rep. Suzanne Schreiber made good strides this year with a bill to streamline licensing requirements for family home day-care centers, and Rep. Kevin Wallace’s bill appropriating $215 million for housing were both good starts this year.
Change is possible. But we will get there only when child advocates band together to demand it from the folks who have become comfortable with the status quo. Two decades of revenue-reducing tax cuts by lawmakers have significantly weakened the state’s buying power when adjusted for inflation and population growth, and much greater efforts are needed.
If Oklahoma wants to reverse the poor outcomes for our children, we must demand that lawmakers take the long view and begin making meaningful, sustained investments in the programs and services that can help our children succeed. Their future depends on it.
Shiloh Kantz is the executive director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute and a member of the Tulsa World Community Advisory Board.