As lawmakers in Augusta deal with the state’s growing budget shortfall, this year’s Kids Count data book offers useful, but sobering, information about the value of state and federal programs that support children and families. As in the past, this information should guide decisions about what programs are the most useful in improving Mainers lives, now and in the future.

The annual report, released today by the Maine Children’s Alliance, highlights the importance of Maine’s past investments – teen smoking rates have plummeted over the past decade, for example – but also the need to continue to put money into programs that help children get a positive start in life, which helps avoid health care, corrections and other costs years later.

One of the most alarming trends noted in the book is the rise in poverty. One in four preschool aged children in Maine lived in poverty in 2005, the most current year data is available for comparison on a county level. This is a substantial increase from the 18 percent in 2004. The federal poverty line in 2005 for a two-parent family of four was about $18,000 and about $15,500 for a single parent with two children.

Poverty is strongly correlated with negative outcomes for children. Children living in poverty are more likely to have health and behavioral problems, to abuse substances and, for girls, to become pregnant. They are also likely to earn less as adults, perpetuating the negative cycle.

While alleviating poverty is a difficult task – the state has raised the minimum wage and continues to encourage new businesses to locate and expand here, thereby increasing employment opportunities – the state and federal government do much to lessen its consequences, such as by lowering the cost of health care and child care.

Many of these services, which are under the federal Medicaid program, are being pared back by the Bush administration. Under the guise of cutting cost, the administration has put forth new rules that would cut funding for Head Start, home visits and school-based services. Maine stands to lose $36 million in federal funds in 2009 because of these changes. Maine’s congressional delegation is working to stall the rule changes.

In Augusta, lawmakers can use the Kids Count book to quantify what cuts to state programs and services mean to the state’s children. Hospital visits for mental health or substance abuse among teens dropped 16 percent between 2004 and 2005, but the rate is still nearly 50 percent higher than in 2001.

Other examples of where state attention and funding have made a difference include teen smoking, which has dropped from 25 percent to 14 percent over the last six years. Alcohol and marijuana use has also declined. Areas that need continued attention include teen pregnancy, which rose slightly between 2004 and 2005 and the number of low-income children without health insurance, which remains 10 percent.

The Alliance provides a valuable service by compiling this data every year so that trends become apparent, which should guide policy decisions. BDN Publisher Richard J. Warren serves on the group’s advisory board.

At a time of difficult budget decisions, such information is even more important.