To the editor:

Recently, Kansas Action for Children released the 2004 Kansas Children’s Report Card, which grades the state on child well-being, and asked the question, “Is ‘good’ good enough for our children?”

For the third consecutive year, the overall grade in the Kansas Children’s Report Card is a B, a grade that some would say is good. However, when a child gets B’s on his or her report card at school but has the capacity to get A’s, we commonly say that child is an underachiever. By that measure, Kansas is an underachieving state; we have the capacity to be the best state in the nation in which to raise children, but this succession of B’s tells us that we are not living up to our capacity and to the promise of opportunity for all.

On Jan. 28, the 2004 Douglas County Children’s Report Card will be released by the Partnership for Children and Youth. In those grades we will find that Douglas County’s efforts to improve child well-being are similar to those of the state: good, but not good enough to realize our ultimate goal.

We think that all Kansas children deserve to have the opportunity to reach their full potential, to grow and develop into productive members of a community, and to be contributing and civilly engaged adults. “Good” efforts are not good enough for children in the state.

Gary Brunk,

Kansas Action for Children,

Topeka