With 85,000 students, Prince William is the second-largest school system in Virginia and among the 40 biggest in the nation; its annual budget is nearly $1 billion. Yet it has managed to find funding for just 4 percent of the 4-year-olds who are eligible under a state-subsidized program to attend pre-K classes. No other large school system in Virginia comes close to such disregard for the disadvantaged....
with the economic collapse of 2008 that allowed justification for spending cuts, it is time to put the funding back into our children.
...That sounds like an excellent return on investment, but the county pleads poverty. Neither the Republican-led Board of Supervisors (which is all white) nor the Republican-led county School Board seems moved by the fact that Prince William’s least advantaged children are getting a raw deal.
Nor is the state blameless. Just before the recession hit, then-Gov. (now Sen.) Timothy M. Kaine bumped up the funding for Virginia’s pre-K program to $6,000 per pupil, starting in 2008. He also shifted the funding formula to help schools in areas with high costs of living, especially Northern Virginia. But since then (and despite four straight years of budget surpluses), per-pupil funding has remained frozen, despite periodic attempts by lawmakers in Richmond to increase it.
The result is that Virginia chips in less for poor children to attend pre-K than does Maryland or the federal Head Start program (both of which pay $8,000 per pupil), and much less than the $9,327 per pupil that the state would pay if it were intent on providing a high-quality preschool education, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University....
Posted: Friday, January 17, 2014 11:16 pm
Updated: 10:36 pm, Sun Jan 19, 2014.
Strides have been made in an effort to lower child obesity rates, (click here) but plenty of work remains, especially for children who weigh in at the
top of the scales, national and local health authorities say.
Based on recent reports, including one from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of childhood obesity has declined in many states, with decreased levels among low-income children 2 to 4 years old in 19 of 43 states and U.S. territories.
Based on recent reports, including one from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of childhood obesity has declined in many states, with decreased levels among low-income children 2 to 4 years old in 19 of 43 states and U.S. territories.
Obesity rates stayed at
the same level in 21 states from 2008 to 2011, based on findings of CDC
researchers who analyzed the weight and height of almost 12 million
children in that age group.
Another report, based on
about 800 children who self-reported their activities and had physical
exams as part of the 2012 National Youth Fitness Survey, found that only
1 in 4 children ages 12 to 15 meet recommendations of an hour or more
of moderate to vigorous activity every day.
Dr. Bruce Phillips, who
has a family practice in Plainville and has delivered generations of
babies at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, said that while
attitudes about childhood obesity are changing, it remains a struggle,
particularly for youngsters who have the most weight to lose....
...At every age group, (click here) African Americans have one of the highest incidences
of diabetes in the United States, with over 20% of African Americans
between 60 and 74 years old having the disease. The rate of type 2
diabetes is growing fastest in ethnic minorities, including African
Americans, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans. The disease is most
prevalent among Native Americans in the southeastern United States, with
27.8% of the population affected. On average, Native Americans,
including Alaska Natives, are 2.2 times as likely to have diabetes as
non-Hispanic whites of similar age (Figure). The demographics are even more striking among children of minority
groups where the rate of type 2 diabetes is increasing rapidly as
compared to the rate in their white counterparts. African Americans account for 75% of all childhood cases of type 2
diabetes, whites less than 25%. The reverse is true for childhood cases
of type 1 diabetes: whites account for 82%, while African Americans are
only 18% of the total case...
...At every age group, (click here) African Americans have one of the highest incidences
of diabetes in the United States, with over 20% of African Americans
between 60 and 74 years old having the disease. The rate of type 2
diabetes is growing fastest in ethnic minorities, including African
Americans, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans. The disease is most
prevalent among Native Americans in the southeastern United States, with
27.8% of the population affected. On average, Native Americans,
including Alaska Natives, are 2.2 times as likely to have diabetes as
non-Hispanic whites of similar age (Figure). The demographics are even more striking among children of minority
groups where the rate of type 2 diabetes is increasing rapidly as
compared to the rate in their white counterparts. African Americans account for 75% of all childhood cases of type 2
diabetes, whites less than 25%. The reverse is true for childhood cases
of type 1 diabetes: whites account for 82%, while African Americans are
only 18% of the total case...Findings (from CDC)
- Each year, more than 13,000 young people are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
- Type 2 diabetes begins when the body develops a resistance to insulin and no longer uses the insulin properly. As the need for insulin rises, the pancreas gradually loses its ability to produce sufficient amounts of insulin to regulate blood sugar.
- Health care providers are finding more and more children with type 2 diabetes, a disease usually diagnosed in adults aged 40 years or older.
- A statistically significant increase in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents was found only for American Indians.
- The epidemics of obesity and the low level of physical activity among young people, as well as exposure to diabetes in utero, may be major contributors to the increase in type 2 diabetes during childhood and adolescence.
- Type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents already appears to be a sizable and growing problem among U.S. children and adolescents. Better physician awareness and monitoring of the disease’s magnitude will be necessary.
- Standard case definition(s), guidelines for treatment, and approval of oral hypoglycemic agents (to lower blood sugar) are urgently required for children and adolescents.
