Governor’s plans for kids deserve to be fast-tracked

As is typically the case with state of the state addresses, chief executives of states dangle a grab bag of proposals so dizzying in scope that many often get lost in the eventual budget shuffle.

And so it went Tuesday in Columbus, where first-term Republican Gov. Mike DeWine addressed a joint session of the Ohio Legislature and state residents to outline a grandiose blueprint to improve the lives of Ohioans on myriad fronts over the next 365 days.

Grabbing the lion’s share of attention in that speech, of course, was the chief executive’s cheerleading for his administration’s proposal to raise the state’s gasoline tax 18 cents per gallon this summer to create a new pot of revenue to repair the crumbling roads and bridges in every nook and cranny of our state.

Members of the state House have countered with a lower and phased-in tax increase of 10.7 cents over three years.

There are likely to be more twists and turns in the proposal as it works its way through the full General Assembly in coming days and weeks.

As that debate drags in the Statehouse, however, we hope legislative and administrative leaders take to heart one of the other overriding themes of De-Wine’s address: improving the lot of Ohio’s children.

DeWine responsibly proposes a multi-pronged, interdepartmental, full-frontal crusade to address a litany of social ills that weaken the quality of life for far too many of the state’s most precious resources – its children. Legislators can ill afford to back-burner many of those promising initiatives.

Among those we believe deserve rapt attention include:

Investing additional state resources in the quest to lower this state’s disturbingly high rate of infant mortality. In his address, DeWine rightly noted that in 2017, nearly 1,000 babies in Ohio died in their first 12 months of life. Further, African-American babies are dying at almost three times the rate of white babies, leaving Ohio ranked 49th worst in the nation for deaths of African-American infants.

Infant mortality is particularly acute in the Mahoning Valley. The black infant-mortality rate in Mahoning County ranked 86th highest out of the state’s 88 counties in 2017 – higher than many poverty-embedded Third World countries around the globe.

Expanding funding to the state’s network of children service agencies. Throughout last year, at least 15,500 children were in out-of-home care, more than a 25 percent increase since 2013.

As the governor pointed out in his address, “historically, the state’s financial support to local children services agencies has been very, very small”

How small has it been? Last year, for example, despite the increased demands placed on the child welfare system from the opiate epidemic, Ohio ranked dead last among the 50 states in state share of children services spending. That shameful standing must end.

Working aggressively with local and county health departments to reduce the number of children whose long-term health is seriously compromised by lead hazards in their midst.

“It is wrong – it is unconscionable – that in 2019, there are still children whose opportunities and whose dreams are stifled because they live in homes where they are exposed to lead paint. Every year, thousands of Ohio children under the age of 6 test positive for unsafe lead levels,” DeWine said.

Other worthy initiatives

The governor’s child-focused agenda also includes other worthy initiatives. They run the gamut from expanding so-called “wrap-around services” for underprivileged and economically disadvantaged youngsters to instituting formal substance-abuse educational programs in kindergarten through 12th grade in all Ohio public schools.

To be sure, none of these initiatives will happen without cooperative planning and dialogue among the state’s Education, Health, Job and Family Services and other departments.

To be sure as well, many of them will require additional funding that leaders should attain through careful budgeting – not proposing new taxation on already overtaxed state residents.

Implementing DeWine’s initiatives will be well worth the time, the cost and the labor involved as long as their noble potential of leaving no Ohio child out in the cold can be achieved.