That was his test of whether a bill should pass.
The bigger question is, “How are the boys and girls doing?”
Children’s Alliance teamed up with the Washington State
Budget and Policy Center to form KIDS COUNT and to take a look at how kids in
our state.
Their new report, State
of Washington’s Children, is a snapshot of data about kids, including
information on education, poverty and hunger.
While our state has many advantages and strengths –
including the nation’s top SAT scores – the report shows that we have work to
do, especially in light of the global recession:
- One in five children do not graduate from high school
- More than 100,000 children still lack health insurance, despite a massive statewide effort to cover every child
- Since 2007, unemployment has doubled among working moms and dads
- 25 percent of children aren’t getting enough food
These problems are not unique to our state. But the children
affected by these problems are unique to our state, our neighborhoods and our families.
