Statewide Iowa — Iowa ranks ninth in the country on the annual Kids Count report, which ranks states on twelve factors divided into four categories: economic well being, education, health, and family and community.
Iowa’s high ranking can be misleading, according to Anne Discher, executive director of Common Good Iowa, which partners with the Annie E. Casey Foundation on the report. Discher says Iowa ranks first for high school kids graduating on time, but falls behind in other areas.
Discher says Iowa ranked seventeenth overall in the health category and it did well on some measures, such as kids covered by health insurance, where it was ranked fourth best in the US.
Discher says these rankings should alert state lawmakers to better fund education and other initiatives aimed at kids. https://www.aecf.org/
