Quantifying what we long suspected to be true.
Texas remains behind most other states on issues related to educational achievement, public health and the environment, according to the latest version of the “Texas on the Brink” study released Monday.
The sixth edition of the report from the Texas Legislative Study Group, a left-leaning research caucus in the House, says the state has the nation’s highest rate of uninsured residents, ranks 50th in the percentage of the population with a high school degree, and has the highest carbon emissions of any state. The study ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Texas legislators should prioritize funding and support for education to improve quality of life in Texas, said state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, chairman of the Legislative Study Group, at a news conference Monday about the study. The state should protect Texas’ future by restoring the cuts made last session to public education and “making sure the amount of money that goes into the budget is growing the budget appropriately for the new students coming in and for the resources they need to be successful,” he added. He also said an expansion of Medicaid would improve health care access for Texans.
The report also examines Texas’ ranking in areas like women’s issues, workforce and public safety.
You can read the report here, and the LSG’s press release here. Former Sen. Eliot Shapleigh released the first Texas On The Brink report in 2003, with the LSG taking it on in 2011 after Shapleigh’s retirement. I encourage you to look at the report, it’s mostly a collection of facts and figures in easy-to-understand pieces. Two tidbits from the section on Women’s Issues that may be of interest: Texas ranks #47 in women’s voter registration, and #51 in women’s voter turnout; on the flip side of that, we are #4 in the percentage of women living in poverty. Think there may be a connection there? Consider that another item for Battleground Texas’ to do list. BOR has more.
(In case you’re curious, the source for the first two figures is the US Census Bureau, Reported Voting and Registration, by Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin, for States: November 2010. The source for the latter figure is the Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, Adult Poverty Rate by Gender, States (2010-2011). Every fact given in the report has a similar citation.)