Report: Texas could save money by addressing children's needs

A yearlong study by Texans Care for Children, an Austin child advocacy group, found that Texas spends between $14.3 billion and $20 billion every year because it does less than other states to address child well-being.

The report found Texas' child poverty rate is 7 percentage points higher than the rest of the country's, with 27 percent of Texas kids growing up poor, compared to 20 percent of other U.S. children.

Texas has higher-than-average rates of children who grow up in poverty, become teen parents, are uninsured and drop out of high school. Addressing these problems would improve the state's economic outlook, the report, released Wednesday, concludes.

“Unrealized potential in Texas children carries a very real price tag for all Texans,” Eileen Garcia, CEO of the nonprofit policy organization, said in a news release. “Decisions made by the Legislature to get more children on the right path — so children are prepared for school and can grow up healthy, safe and thriving — represent a choice to advance our state's prosperity for years to come.”

The research found Texas would save:

• $167.2 million if it reduced its teen pregnancy rate;

• $14.3 billion if it reduced its child poverty rate;

• $3.4 billion if it reduced its uninsured children rate;

• $2.1 billion if it reduced its high school drop-out rate.

The research was carried out by a team of 19 students at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Among its conclusions: Closing the achievement gap between white and minority students by 2040 would inject more dollars into the state economy than adding another industry the size of the oil and gas industry today.

The report also captures indirect costs to taxpayers when children receive inadequate nutrition, health and mental health services or educational offerings during childhood. It includes recommendations based on meetings with hundreds of stakeholders across the state that helped the nonprofit group identify 30 solutions to improve child well-being in Texas.

Solutions include such efforts as increasing early childhood education and repairing a frayed child welfare safety net.

“Doing right by Texas kids is not only the right thing to do, it also has a huge financial payoff to our state,” Professor Pat Wong, who led the team of students conducting the research, said in a news release. “Each opportunity we squander has a huge price in terms of lost human potential.”

The report provides costs associated with failing to address children's well-being in five key areas: early childhood education and financial opportunities; child and maternal health; children's mental health; child protection; and juvenile justice and youth success rates.

mstoeltje@express-news.net