13.4%
The latest assessment of poverty in America offered another reminder of the importance of policy choices in providing positive effects for generations to come. Census data show the nation’s child poverty rate more than doubled from 2021 to 2022. The difference? The federal expanded Child Tax Credit was allowed to expire in 2022, after providing regular infusions of cash to families to boost economic security during the pandemic. Families receiving the CTC spent most of those funds on basic necessities such as housing, food and child care expenses.
Child poverty in Nebraska rose to 13.4% during that same time, an alarming statistic considering that state-level figures don’t account for cost of living and other factors that comprise the nationwide Supplemental Poverty Measure. The nation’s poverty rate saw its sharpest increase in more than 50 years.
Next year, 14 states will provide Child Tax Credits as an investment in the next generation. A proposal to add Nebraska to the list was estimated to reach 478,000 children, or about 81% of all kids in the state, helping hardworking families while creating better long-term economic outcomes.
Read more from Omaha World-Herald on census data
Read more from OpenSky on state-based Child Tax Credit
17th
There are 6,312 bridges in Nebraska that are in need of repair, but as of June, the state had committed only $9.3 million of the $90 million currently available for bridge work through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association noted that eight states had already committed two-thirds of the federal funding currently available to fix bad bridges.
With 8% of all bridges deemed structurally deficient, Nebraska ranks 17th among states in the industry trade group’s annual report. Combined, 400,000 vehicles drive across just 10 structurally deficient Nebraska bridges each day.
Read the annual report on bad bridges
$400 million
Add Ohio to the list of states where school privatization programs, once launched, continue to grow in size and cost. More than a month before the deadline for students to apply for vouchers, the cost of an expanded Ohio voucher program has exceeded the $400 million projection included in the state budget. The state has received applications totaling approximately $432 million for the 2023-2024 school year, and 900 new applications are coming in each day.
The state pays as much as $8,407 directly to private schools for each qualifying student, but Ohio isn’t tracking how many voucher applicants already attend private schools or how they perform on standardized tests.
Read more from Columbus Dispatch
More from OpenSky on cost of school privatization in Nebraska
$900 million
State senators in Virginia unanimously backed a budget compromise that includes non-refundable rebates for taxpayers in 2024 and an increase in the standard deduction that will only remain in place if the state meets a revenue target. If revenues don’t reach a certain threshold, the standard deduction will scale back, providing flexibility for future legislators.
Meanwhile, record tax cuts passed by Nebraska lawmakers over recent years dramatically escalate in cost. Income tax cuts alone passed in 2023 are projected to reduce available funds in FY 2029 by $900 million.