LEFT BEHIND CHILDREN

A little over two years ago when the then Governor of Texas was pursuing the Presidency he coined a borrowed phrase when he promised that in the Bush administration no child would be left behind. It was a good slogan and a catchy one and he told us that he would be vigilant in seeing that every child would be offered the opportunity to share in the promise of the American dream. It was high flying and full blown rhetoric from a compassionate conservative. Now, two years later we can measure those promises against the record.

The Children’s Defense Fund, the DC based child advocacy group from whom the President borrowed his resounding slogan, has just released its study of the lot of America’s children. In 2000 6.4 million America families lived below the poverty line – that is a family of 3 earning $14,128 or less or a family of 4 earning $18,104 or less. A worker who earns $8.70 per hour and puts in a 40 hour week earns $18,149 a year. In 2001 that number increased to 6.8 million families living in poverty. 4 million children had one or both parents among the unemployed.

In 2001 8.5 million children were without any form of health insurance. According to the Rand Corp. 26% of the children of unemployed parents are not covered, twice the percentage of uninsured children of employed parents. In October 2002 there were 185,000 unemployed workers with dependent children. In October that number had increased to 502,000. In that same period the number of “discouraged workers”, those without a job for more than 26 weeks, grew from 597,000 to 1.6 million. “Discouraged workers” are not counted as unemployed.

It is no surprise that children living in these situations are more likely to develop behavioral problems, to miss more school, to get sicker and remain ill for longer. Kids living below the poverty line are likely to suffer from malnutrition and developmental delays. They are more likely to fall behind and do badly in school. Does the President really believe that a $2000.00 tax voucher for the parents will enable them to afford to send the children of poverty to private school? These are America’s forgotten children. We expect them to walk the difficult stony path to adulthood without shoes for their feet or food to sustain them on their journey.

“Leaving no child behind” means much more than instituting testing and standards in schools. It means more than holding teachers responsible to see that their students learn and are prepared for the next leg of their trek. It means more than giving lip service to equality while dismantling the systems that insure that children that earlier generations have left behind have the chance to catch up.

We can’t afford to ignore America’s forgotten children, the sons and daughters of America’s forgotten men and women. The President says he is fighting for family values. I just wish that he would value families as much as he values investors. America’s forgotten men and women don’t have to pay taxes on dividends.