These numbers mean several things. They mean we've done a good job of reducing unemployment in Arkansas and providing decent jobs for the parents of children. They mean we've seen a reduction in the number of children living in single-parent homes. If you want to make sure a child never lives in poverty, you must educate that child's parents, make sure the parents stay married and provide them jobs. According to the study, child poverty rates in Arkansas have dropped because the proportion of young children with mothers who finished high school has increased by 16 percent, there has been a 17 percent increase in the proportion of children who have at least one parent employed full time and there has been a 6 percent decrease in the proportion of young children with single mothers.
Poverty affects how ready a child is to start school.
It affects how that child performs in school. We should feel good that we're making progress in Arkansas. At the same time, we should remember we have a long way to go when it comes to things such as increasing childhood immunization rates, decreasing poverty rates, increase the number of insured children, improving test scores in our public schools, increasing the percentage of Arkansans who attend college and improving college retention rates once they get there. Let's keep working, and let's keep making progress.