An Embarrassing Report Card

California has received a grade of “D” for its services to children, ranking below the national average on three-fourths of all of the indicators used to judge performance in education, health services, safety, teen-age and family programs.

The alarming evaluation is the result of a six-month study by Children Now, a statewide bipartisan organization dedicated to improving the lives of the state’s 7.6 million children. Even though California is the wealthiest state in the nation, it ranks among the 10 top states in only three of 14 benchmarks used to judge the programs. Furthermore, in most categories, the situation in California is deteriorating.

In issuing its report card, the Children Now organization expressed hope that it would goad the people of the state much the same way school report cards can serve to encourage better student performance. This is the first of what will be annual report cards from Children Now.

More than a report card, the evaluation also outlines practical and specific programs that can be undertaken to address the weaknesses in the system. “We know what works for children,” James P. Steyer, president of Children Now, commented. “We don’t need more studies. We need action on things that work.”

The report’s agenda for action includes:

--Use of $100 million from new cigarette tax revenues to provide basic health care to the 1.8 million children with no health insurance,

--Expansion of both child care and early childhood education;

--Development of a statewide program of in-home services in families where there is a high risk of child abuse and neglect;

--Community education programs to guide working parents on the use of the federal earned income-tax credit to help limited family budgets;

--Expanded programs by private enterprise to help the children of employes by providing health services and day care, as well as flexible working hours for employed parents.

“We have been asleep at the switch,” according to Wendy Lazarus, vice president of Children Now, who directed the report card program. Children’s services have deteriorated through neglect, not malice, she said. “It is easier to get attention for an explosion that for erosion,” Shirley Hufstedler added. She is a Los Angeles attorney and former secretary of education, who was one of five distinguished Californians who reviewed the report card research. She said there would have been a quick response to an earthquake that did to children what years of eroding services have done.

The picture is grim. One in five children in the state lives in poverty. Less than half the state’s 2-year-olds have had basic immunizations. California ranks 42nd in the rate of high school graduations, with one-third of all students dropping out, a figure that reaches 48% for blacks and 45% for Latinos. In education, the state ranks 50th in student-teacher ratio and 30th in per pupil expenditures. In child safety, California is rated 48th in terms of child abuse and neglect. Weaknesses of programs for young children and families are factors in the state’s ranking at the bottom of all the states with the highest ratio of incarcerated juveniles. But it does rank No.1 for the level of its public assistance payments.

Responsibility for the present crisis and for appropriate remedies lies not just with government but also with the private sector, with individuals and with parents, Children Now emphasized in making the report card public. The erosion of children’s services affects not just the poverty sector but all children in the state.

“We all have a part in turning this around,” Children Now’s Steyer concluded. “We can save lives and dollars if we begin now,” he emphasized--words that strike an appropriate note of urgency for the situation.