Nevada report card questions quality of life

Kris Hill

Monday, Jan. 15, 2001 | 10:17 a.m.

Children in Nevada feel pretty safe in school, a new report says, but the state could improve the quality of life of its youngsters.

The report, released Friday by the Children's Advocacy Alliance, gave the state an overall grade of C- as a place to grow up. But on high school violence, the group graded Nevada B+, its highest grade, because of a decrease in behavior such as students bringing weapons to school and fighting.

"Nevada and the nation have seen a dramatic decrease in most categories of violent crime," the report noted.

Children's Advocacy Alliance, a Clark County nonprofit group that works with Metro Police and local agencies for abused and neglected children, graded various areas of child welfare in its first-ever survey. The grades were based on how much services and daily life had improved or declined in the past 10 years.

The group gave the state a C- on children's issues, a B- on teen years, a C on safety and security and a C- on health.

It issued the report, which it plans to repeat every two years, hoping to bring attention to children's issues, especially as the state Legislature convenes Feb. 5.

No A's, which showed improvement of more than 25 percent, were given. A B indicated an improvement of 11 to 25 percent, and a C no change. D's and F's were given for corresponding declines in quality of life.

In addition to the B+ in high school violence, Nevada received three other B's -- for infant and child morality rates, reductions in suicide attempts and decreases in teen sexual activity and teen pregnancies.

The report gave prenatal care a C-, but noted that while the level of service remained consistent, only one out of every four mothers gets basic care during pregnancy. In addition, C's were awarded for student achievement, student to teacher ratios and use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

Money spent per student was given a D+, and immunizations received a D because of a decrease in the number of 2-year-olds who have had booster shots.

The report also gave a D for the number of homicides of teens, basing the grade on a book, "Homicide Trends in the United States," by James A. Fox, which cites a Nevada homicide rate of of 13.7 per 100,000 teens in 1998. For Nevada, that would mean about 160 youngsters were killed.

However, the Nevada Department of Public Safety shows a total of 174 victims of homicide statewide in all age groups in 1998. Only 63 of those, according to state records, were 24 or younger.

Failing grades were given in health care and high school completion, despite a recent announcement by the Clark County School District that dropout rates had declined significantly over the last two school years of 1990s.

The Children's Advocacy Alliance gathered its data from state and federal sources, including the Children's Defense Fund, a national youth advocacy group, federal Centers for Disease Control and the FBI.

As poor as some of the grades were, the group expected worse, Vice President Donna Husted said.

In fact, some of Nevada's better grades were as good as they were only because the curve -- the national average -- is so low, she said.

For example, Nevada's infant mortality rate -- 6.3 deaths per 1,000 live births -- was graded well only because nationally it's worse -- 6.9 deaths per 1,000 births.

"Maybe we should have made the national average an F instead of a C, and everything would have gotten D's," she said.

"You have to read between the lines on some of these grades," said Gard Jameson, a member of the alliance's board who helped organize the study.

"It's alarming that even though there has been a decrease, for example, in the number of students who think their peers carry guns, still one kid out every five is perceived to be bringing a weapon to school," Jameson said.

And even though some of the grades are B's, which initially appear to be a good sign, Jameson pointed out that those higher grades send mixed messages.

"None of these categories . . . represent an adequate level of treatment," Jameson said.

The Children's Advocacy Alliance has some suggestions based on the findings in the report card.

For example, the report points out there is $18.5 million in unspent Children's Health Insurance Program funds from the state's 1998 allotment. Jameson would like the state health division better inform people that money is there for children.

He is also concerned that the number of reports of substantiated abuse and neglect was 16.4 per 1,000 children, more than twice the national rate, according to the report.

The alliance would like to see the Legislature tackle all of the issues the report examines because the information shows that not enough is being done for children, Husted said.

"Young people as a category are generally ignored," Jameson said.

The organization will also issue a report after the session concludes, letting the public know how lawmakers voted on children's issues.

"We wanted to raise not only the level of consciousness, but the level of responsibility," Husted said.