Monday, December 8, 2014

Just Some Numbers

Okay, for those of you that read my last blog (although it’s been awhile), I am going to do a bit of a 180 on you, but only for a minute. I ran across a recent publication put out by the National Education Association that details an immense amount of state-level information for each and every state across the nation. As you may guess, many of these rankings and amounts do not bode well for the state with the wind sweeping down the plains. Unfortunately, as many of you know, we have a lot of work to do in our state. I decided to do some more digging and searching numerous sites for state-by-state rankings in various different areas.

Essentially, I wanted to put together a short list of national rankings within different categories in order to show the immense amount of work that we need to put into our citizenry. Our economy has held it’s own, and even despite recent energy downturns; our state is and will continue to thrive.

Now, will we move into improving our societal issues in Oklahoma? As an educator, parent, concerned citizen and human being, I sure hope so.

I will, although, continue to echo my True But Useless thoughts and will pick up that torch at a later time TBD. However, it would be nice for some attention and immense effort to be put into improving the overall outlook of our state, not just its business health. Our children are our future citizenry and our citizens need to be educated, healthy and happy. It is a cringe-worthy list, but it needs to be seen.

For the future of Oklahoma, what will you do about it?

Education
49th in Teacher Pay
49th in Per Pupil Expenditure
47th in Teacher Pay When Adjusted for “cost-of-living”
45th in Teacher Pay When Adjusted for Regional Amenities
43rd in Per Capita Expenditures of State & Local Governments for Public Schools
1st Highest in Cuts to Education Since Recession (23%)
11th Highest Increase in Student Enrollment
12th Highest in Student to Teacher Ratio

Income/Taxes
6th Highest Nationwide Change in Personal Income from 2007-2013
Child poverty has increased in the state in the past 10 years, rising to 27.4 percent from 21.4 percent. The highest in the nation.
8th Highest in Percentage of Revenue Received from the Federal Government
46th in Per Capita Tax Revenue
49th in Revenue Per Student
50th in Per Capita Property Tax Revenue

Societal Factors
1st Highest Incarceration Rate for Females
2nd Highest Divorce Rate
2nd Highest Per Capita Teen Birth Rate
4th Highest Incarceration Rate for Males
6th Worst state in adult obesity
7th Highest in Uninsured Children
13th Highest in Uninsured Citizens
43rd in Dependence or Abuse of Illicit Drugs or Alcohol
43rd in Cancer Deaths
43rd in deaths due to cancer
44th in the number of people engaging in regular physical activity
45th in Overall Mental Health Ranking
47th in Need for Care
47th in Adults with Serious Thoughts of Suicide
47th in Senior Citizen Health
48th in deaths due to cardiovascular disease
49th in Adult/43rd in Youth - Highest Prevalence of Mental Illness with Lowest Access to Care
50th in Percentage of Adults with Any Mental Illness 21.88%
32.2% of Oklahomans are Obese
28.3% of Oklahomans are physically inactive
23% of Oklahoma adults use tobacco
27% of Oklahoma children are living in poverty
Public health funding has decreased in Oklahoma to $80 per person from $113 per person in the past two years -- a decrease of 40%. 

Are you ready to make some changes?

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