What We Face as a Nation
Many children in our nation fare reasonably well: They are in decent
schools, have adequate nutrition and access to quality health care, live
in safe housing and neighborhoods, and belong to households where the
income covers all of their basic needs. For 13 million other
children who live in the urban, suburban and rural shadows ofour
public life, this is not the case: their basic needs cannot
be met on the income available to their households, and their parents
do not have access to a reasonable income no matter what their work effort. They
go to segregated schools in the oldest buildings in the nation,
live in unsafe housing and neighborhoods, and care forsiblings
so their parents can work. Their public health insurance
is not acceptedby mostpractitioners of
medicine. For these children, the future is bleak. And
their numbers are growing.
They are white, black and brown, but children of color are much more
likely to grow up in these shadows. Public policies and
programs are cynically described as initiatives which
provide them and the households they depend on with sustenance, while
nurturing hope and opportunity. But, in reality, the programs are inadequate,
mislabeled, underfunded, and are being cut back in favor of other tax
and spendingpriorities. Infants and young children
are under the gravest threat during their early childhood developmental
years, and then again in their adolescent years when not even after-school
programs can be maintained in the current austere environment. Nowhere
is there any discussionof a “Marshall Plan” needed to
rescue them,no serious state or national effort
to measure the impactof “welfare reform” legislation on
their well-being, “collateral impact,”even though the legislation caused
a wrenching upheaval in home and family life for millions of
these children when their mothers moved into low-paying jobs with uncertain
child care and transportation.
All too often, advocates for the dignity of life and
the nurturing of children give little priority
totheir needs,and stand silently by as
tax and spending policies are changed at the state and national levels
to virtually preclude the financingof public
programs which would substantially protect the health, education
and safety of these children and their families.
What We Need to Consider
Economic Security
- The latest data show the number of children
living in poverty in the U.S. increased
for the third straight year, by 733,000, to 12.9 million
in 2003; children represented one-third of the total of
35.9 million people in the nation living in poverty.
- The current administration offered no new income security
policies or programs to tackle the problem. Instead, it
announced plans to change the way poverty and uninsured statistics
are compiled. Wages have
been stagnant or fallen, especially among households
headed by young adults and Hispanics; a proposal to increase
the minimum wage above the current $5.15 per hour is languishing in
the Congress, unsupported by the nation’s leadership.
Education
- Preschool: In Michigan , 89,000 preschool children
living in poverty are eligible but are not enrolled in Head
Start, the consistently underfunded, comprehensive school
readiness program.
- K-12: No Child Left Behind, the 2002 law that
authorizes federal spending for K-12 education is underfunded by roughly
$6 billion dollars. In Michigan , this translates to a shortfall of
$270 million for teaching and learning programs, including those for
at-risk students.
- Unfunded mandates: No Child Left Behind requires
states to develop and administer annual testing, and to show progress
or face sanctions. The administration budget proposal for 2005 is $9.4
billion less than specified in the law. Special-education mandates
would be underfunded by an estimated $11.4 billion
in 2005. To meet these mandates, the state would need an extra $393.5
million in federal funds.
- Local school district impacts: With the large budget
deficits in Michigan due to the double impact of the economy
and tax cuts, the state cannot make up for federal shortfalls and
inflation costs; half the districts expect bigger class sizes and
a delay in new textbooks. One in five will cut school days.
- Higher Education: Pell Grants to assist low-income studentswith
college costs, are consistently funding the prior year’s
shortfalls: In fiscal 2005, this federal program will continue the
trend with a $3.7 billion shortfall. The administration
proposes to freeze the grants for the third year
in a row, while college costs are up more than 25 percent over the
past two years.
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In agreement with the U.S. Bishops, Catholics are urged to vote for candidates “based
on the full range of issues, as well as on the candidate’s personal
integrity, philosophy and performance,” keeping in mind that “a
Catholic moral philosophy does not easily fit the ideologies of ‘right’ or ‘left’,
nor the platform of any party…Our responsibility is to measure all
candidates, policies, parties, and platforms by how they protect the
life, dignity and rights of the human person, whether they protect the
poor and the vulnerable and advance the common good."
“Most issues are moral issues. If we take
moral issues seriously, we need to vote accordingly.”
– Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Caucus Co-chair
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