Kansas schools can do better
To the Editor:
Recently Kansas Action for Children released the "2004 Kansas Children's Report Card" which grades the state on child well-being, and asked the question, "Is 'good' good enough for our children?"
For the third consecutive year the overall grade in the "Kansas Children's Report Card" is a B, a grade that some would say is good. However, when a child gets B's on his or her report card at school but has the capacity to get A's, we commonly say that child is an underachiever. By that measure, Kansas is an underachieving state; we have the capacity to be the best state in the nation in which to raise children, but this succession of B's tells us that we are not living up to our capacity and to the promise of opportunity for all.
Kansas can fulfill that promise by committing to commonsense policies that support families. We should start by making sure that all children have access to health care and to voluntary pre-kindergarten and after-school programs. Implementing such policies requires public investment, but it is a wise investment that will pay for itself many times over.
On Jan. 19 through 21, the "2004 Marion County Children's Report Card" will be released by Communities in Schools of Marion County. In those grades we will find that Marion County's efforts to improve child well-being are similar to those of the state: good, but not good enough to realize our ultimate goal.
We think that all Kansas children deserve to have the opportunity to reach their full potential, to grow and develop into productive members of a community, and to be contributing and civically engaged adults. "Good" efforts are not good enough for children in the state.
In the 1990s we did not take advantage of the great economic growth of that period to make the necessary public investments in children and families. If we are entering another period of economic growth, we ask policy-makers on the state and local level if we will now have the foresight and the will to make those investments so that our children can reach their full potential. Our kids — and the state of Kansas — deserve no less.
Gary Brunk
Kansas Action for Children
Topeka
