New Mexico slips to 50th in child well-being (NM's overall ranking using 16 indicators is 50th)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | August 8, 2022 | Rick Nathanson

[CedarDave]

New Mexico’s ranking in overall child well-being slipped from 49th to 50th, according to the Kids Count Data Book for 2022.

“The COVID pandemic caused major challenges for families that blunted the progress New Mexico had been making to improve child well-being,” said Amber Wallin, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, which manages the state’s Kids Count program.

More importantly, and on a positive note, the data book also shows that New Mexico “has seen consistent improvement over time in most indicators,” she said.

Comparing rankings from one year to the next often results in an incomplete picture, Wallin said. The national data book, compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, looks primarily at 2016 through 2020 to determine the 2022 national rankings. But compared to rankings from a decade ago, there has clearly been improvement in many of the 16 indicators assessed in four major domains.

In economic well-being New Mexico is ranked 48th; in education we’re ranked 50th; in health we’re ranked 39th; and in family and community the state is 48th. Using a formula that compares all states and all 16 indicators, New Mexico’s overall ranking is 50th, Wallin explained.

“One of the biggest improvements that we’ve seen is in teen birth rates, which decreased by 58% since 2010,” dropping from 53 births per 1,000 teens in 2010, to 22 births per 1,000 teens in 2020, she said.

[CedarDave]

And who is mainly responsible for those Covid pandemic problems? Dem Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham who put the state in lockdown while neighboring Red states opened up. NM lost 40 percent of small businesses due to the lockdown, they shuttered their does never again to reopen. School children lost two years education by lockdowns, zoom learning and mask wearing upon returning to school. Even school sport participants suffered as indoor and outdoor sports, including basketball, volleyball, and track and field sports required them to wear masks while playing and exercising.

[CedarDave]

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[Carthego delenda est]

I love Dem governors…

[dsrtsage]

They can easily fix it by electing even more demonrats

[desertsolitaire]

To you and all Freepers in that area, what things would help improve this somewhat dismal-sounding statistic?

[Tell It Right]

New Mexico same as the Old Mexico.

[packagingguy]

Brandon banning drilling on federal lands didn’t help. Didn’t know this until the ban took effect but Native Americans do not own their reservations. It is federal land.

They were relying on that revenue to run their schools.

Guess they were just collateral damage on the way to our carbon-neutral utopia.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

This is NOT the New Mexico schools I went to back in 1954-1962! The schools were great!

Then dad took us to the Ozarks where we saw REAL POVERTY!

Now the Ozark schools (NW Corner only) are beating NM schools hands down!

[CedarDave]

Shuttering of the coal powered generating plants in the Farmington-Shiprock area has deprived many Navajo’s of their well-paying jobs.

[CedarDave]

To you and all Freepers in that area, what things would help improve this somewhat dismal-sounding statistic?

Electing a freedom-loving governor and state legislators. Dems control all positions in the state - Governor, legislature, judiciary.

In fact the current governor MLG has made things worse the past four years by following California on rules and regulations, especially climate change. New cars and trucks will have to have CA-style emission controls in a few years (can't be registered if bought out of state), reliable fossil fuel generating plants being shuttered in favor of wind and solar (only a delay in closing the Four Corners PNM coal plant is keeping NM from CA-style brownouts and blackouts this summer, but beware next year).

NM is #2 in oil and gas production but while enjoying the income, Dems are putting strict controls on emissions, even stricter than the Fed EPA, causing small operators to plug wells while big operators spend millions to retrofit or pay millions in fines. God forbid you have a 5 barrel crude or salt water spill.

However, MLG touts pot farms and sales to replace O&G revenue and encourages abortion clinics to relocate their baby-killing operations from states like TX and OK to NM where all restrictions on abortion up to the moment of birth have been removed by the legislature this past session.

NM has a gross receipts tax where taxes from about 5 to 7+ percent are applied to all goods and services. You need your car repaired? Technician labor is charged the tax. Your clothes dry-cleaned? Pay the tax when you pick them up. Basic food at the supermarket is exempt but beer/wine is taxed. Have a meal at the restaurant, pay a tax before you tip the waiter.

The basic philosophy is that New Mexico residents are too stupid to know how to govern themselves and therefore Big Gov has to do it, and of course government pays for health care, food, and housing support for low income earners so actual income from low paying jobs goes to buy that high priced fancy black pickup or SUV.

[desertsolitaire]

Thank you for providing situation clarity.

[Organic Panic]

I don’t trust any statistics coming from any of these “studies.” They are all political. Like when these same organizations claim America is far behind Cuba for child care and education. It’s all crap.

[wjcsux]

You can always count on New Mexico to go all in for the race to the bottom in everything.

[Lean-Right]

Moved to Albq.in 1977. Not then a bad place
to choose as a residence.. 12 years later,
I couldn’t pack fast enough to get my
family out of there.
Sad, as Albuquerque is the shining
star of a state that defines third world.