Editorial: State can do better for children

Thursday, July 29, 1999 | 10:14 a.m.

Nevada always comes out well in national studies as a favorable place to do business. The state's economy and growth are the envy of the nation, and Las Vegas is rated as one of the top tourist destinations in the world. A new research book rated Henderson and Boulder City as two of the best cities in the nation for retirees.

But Nevada also receives its share of unflattering reviews. The latest study, coming from the Children's Rights Council of Washington, D.C., ranks the state 44th in conditions for raising children. Maine was rated the best state and Louisiana the worst.

Though one problem area, high school dropout rates, is being addressed by local educators, there is enough in the study to suggest that Nevada can do a much better job overall in the area of child care.

The study by the national child advocacy organization, available on its Internet website, shows that Nevada's overall ranking has actually slipped over the past five years. The ratings were calculated by averaging Nevada's standing with the other states in 10 categories. It is hard to quibble with the sources of the statistics, which include the FBI, federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Kids Count Data Book, a popular volume used by child advocacy groups.

Nevada's 17 percent high school dropout rate is the worst in the nation, as is the state's child death rate of 0.3 percent, according to the study. Only three states have a higher rate of unimmunized 2-year-olds than Nevada's 27 percent. There are also only three states with a higher percentage of mothers not receiving prenatal care in the first trimester than Nevada's 23.9 percent. Nevada's teen birth rate of 6.96 percent is exceeded by only six other states.

The best ranking for the state is in the percentage of juveniles arrested for crimes, where 39 states rate worse than Nevada's 0.78 percent.

There are some problems with studies that rank states. One is that states often use different formulas to compile statistics. In the case of the child study, for instance, we cannot assume that each state has the same requirements for reporting abuse or neglect. Nevada ranked in the lower third in that category.

In other cases the differences between states are so minute that fractions of a percent could separate a high-ranking state from those in the lower tier. If Nevada were to have only 20 percent of its 2-year-olds immunized, the state would improve by 24 places in the rankings.

With a little bit of effort Nevada surely could move up in many of these child welfare areas, giving researchers one less bone to pick with our state.