Alabama has moved up one spot in an annual report that measures child well-being, but still lags behind most of the country in child care access, educational outcomes and child health and wellness.

The 2023 KIDS COUNT Data Book, published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, ranks Alabama 45th overall. The report compares 16 indicators over four categories – economic well-being, education, health, and family and community.

According to the report, 22% of Alabama children live in poverty, higher than the national average.

This year’s report focused on the child care crisis, finding that from 2020-21, 10% of children under the age of 6 in Alabama lived in families in which someone quit, changed or refused a job because of problems with child care.

Read more: Alabama child care workers ask for more funding, support

According to the report, even if parents can find an opening at child care near their home, they often can’t pay for it. The average cost of center-based child care for a toddler in Alabama in 2021 was $7,501, 8% of the median income of a married couple, and 30% of a single mother’s income in the state.

“A good child care system is essential for kids to thrive and our economy to prosper. But our current approach fails kids, parents, and child care workers by every measure,” said Lisa Hamilton, president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. “Without safe child care they can afford and get to, working parents face impossible choices, affecting not only their families, but their employers as well.”

Rhonda Mann, executive director of VOICES for Alabama’s Children, said Alabama has taken steps to address the crisis, including through Department of Human Resources grant programs that give quarterly bonuses of $3,000 to full-time childcare workers and $1,500 to part-time workers. According to DHR, the agency has awarded 6,935 grants to child care providers since the initiative was announced in November 2021.

The legislature also recently added $30 million in funding for a program that helps child care providers improve quality and $12 million for early learning opportunities.

Still, according to the foundation’s report, Alabama needs to do more to improve education and job opportunities for children and families.

“While Alabama may be moving up in the rankings compared to other states measured in this year’s KIDS COUNT Data Book, we are at best struggling to hold the line,” Mann said.

“Overall, the well-being of children in Alabama stayed the same or worsened in 11 of the 16 indicators that the Casey Foundation tracks. Still, this stands in contrast to what children in many other states have experienced over the last few years, especially as it relates to education outcomes. State leaders should be proud of what they implemented to mitigate COVID disruptions, but as this report suggests, we still have a lot of work left to do.”

Alabama students now rank 41st in the country in fourth-grade reading outcomes and 43rd in eighth-grade math, jumping six spots in both subjects. But those gains more likely point to the state’s scores worsening at a slower pace due to the pandemic instead of increases in student achievement.

According to the report, 72% of fourth-graders scored below proficient reading levels in 2022, the same percentage who tested below proficiency in 2019. Eighty-one percent of eighth graders tested below proficient math levels—a two percent increase from the 2019 rate.

Compared to the national average, Alabama falls behind by an average of about 5 percentage points on all of the education indicators except for high school graduation rates.

Recently released test scores from this school year showed that 76% of third graders are reading on grade level, a decrease of two percentage points from last year.

Still, Alabama ranked 39th in education, its highest ranking among the four categories measured by the report. The state also ranked in the top 20 in two indicators: 3rd in the percentage of high school students not graduating on time (only 9%), and 15th in the rate of children without health insurance (only 4%).

It ranked in the bottom five in three indicators: low birth-weight babies (10.4%), child and teen deaths per 100,000 (44%), and teen births (23 per 1,000 births).

She hopes lawmakers will continue to use the data provided in the report to move the needle on child wellness in Alabama.

“It’s so important for us to look at the data and understand what the data is trying to tell us. Put it in context, rather than being upset about our ranking,” said Mann. “We certainly would like to rank even higher, but what’s more important to us is, did we move the needle and do we have the program in place to keep progressing?”