Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

Montezuma County kids face uphill battle

County ranks last in Colorado in annual Kid’s Count report

Nearly 2 in 3 Montezuma County children younger than 6 reside in homes that face financial hardships.

While only about a third of Montezuma County children live below the federal poverty level, formulated using 1960s-era calculations, the number of children living in homes without self-sufficient incomes is nearly double, said Bill Jaeger, vice-president of Early Childhood Initiatives for the Colorado Children’s Campaign, author of the Kid’s Count report.

The federal poverty level for a family of four is set at $23,850 in Montezuma County. But the true cost of living, described as a self-efficient income, for a family of four is $55,956.

According to Jaeger, 55 percent of Montezuma County children younger than 18 reside in homes that don’t receive a self-efficient income. For children 6 and younger, the rate spikes to 60 percent, Jaeger said.

At a recent community luncheon, some three dozen area educators, social workers and child advocates convened to obtain insight and analysis into the 2015 Kid’s Count report, which includes a child well-being index for the 25 most-populated counties in Colorado. Montezuma County fell dead last among the counties surveyed. In comparison, La Plata County ranked 11th overall.

The Kid’s Count report measures 12 aspects related to children’s health, education and family and community support.

Health

Health indicators include teen births, low birth weights, infant mortality, uninsured children and obesity.

Analyzing the data, Montezuma County Public Health Director Bobbi Lock praised gains made in regard to teen birth rates, for example, which dropped from 52 per 1,000 in 2013 to 45 per 1000 in 2014. She was also happy to discover that child obesity levels had dipped from 31 to 27 percent.

However, Lock added that the county, in regard to children’s health, continued to face uphill battles. For example, she pointed out that low birth-weight babies had increased from 6 to 10 percent from 2013 to 2014.

“The child well-being index for uninsured children in Colorado counties was also disappointing – since it was 13.7 percent and is now 19.9 percent – making us tied with La Plata County for the counties with the highest uninsured rate for children in the state,” said Lock.

Education

Regarding education, the Kid’s Count report measures kindergartners in full-day programs, English language learners, high school graduation rates and proficiency levels in reading, math, writing, science and social studies.

Asked to identify what aspect of the Kid’s Count report he found troublesome, Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 Superintendent Alex Carter quickly pointed to the continued downward trend in per-pupil spending in Colorado versus the national average. In 2001, Colorado’s per pupil funding was $714 below the national average. By 2012, the gap had widened to more than $2,700.

“I know it seems that school leaders are always complaining about the lack of adequate funding for our public schools, but the fact of the matter is that Colorado is going to have to accept that you get what you pay for,” said Carter.



Reader Comments