(Editor's Notes by Christina Myer - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

During what the song says is “the most wonderful time of the year,” much of what we adults do to make it magical is for children. We want them to feel the joy and love of the season, we want to give them what we can, we want to help them understand the reason for our celebration (and to therefore become the kinds of people who grow up wanting to give more than they want to receive). We invite into our homes elves — jolly and old, or on a shelf. We decorate, we bake, we shop … so much of it is to light up the eyes of the children in our lives.

With them in mind, then, it seems a perfect time to dive in to the annual West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy KIDS COUNT Data Book — a look at the well-being of Mountain State children through numbers.

Here in Wood County, data from 2023 shows there are 83,340 residents — 17,576 of them are under the age of 18.

Compared with much of the rest of the state, we are fortunate in Wood County — though, again, only relatively speaking. Here, 19.3% of children live below the poverty line. We are surrounded by Jackson, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun and Ritchie counties, where more than 30% of children are living below the poverty line. (Pleasants County, on the other hand, is the only county in the state with fewer than 5% of children living below the poverty line).

Data from 2022 shows 2% of children under 6 in Wood County do not have health insurance, and 1 in 5 children under 18 are living with food insecurity.

There’s work to do on the education front, though we already know that. With 11,330 enrolled for the 2023-24 school year, fourth grade reading proficiency was at 64.1%, 8th grade math proficiency was at 36.1% and the graduation rate for the 2023 four-year cohort was 90.9%. There were 20.6% of students with special needs for 2023-24.

There is so much more to dig through — just for one county, let alone 55.

For example, 16% of live births occurred before 37 weeks of pregnancy in 2021, in Wood County; 3,230 children participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 2023; there is a need for 1,453 additional child care slots for children under age six with working parents.

It’s not a pretty picture. The opening pages of the data book include the note that “West Virginia as a whole ranked 44th in overall child well-being when compared with all other states in the 2024 KIDS COUNT Data Book.”

Further, “The county level data presented here reinforce the importance of policy decisions on the well-being of West Virginia’s children,” the report says. “While state and federal policymakers have prioritized child and family health during and following the pandemic, policies that would increase economic stability and improve educational outcomes have not been adequately addressed. West Virginia policymakers must recognize the inherent link between poverty and overall well-being to truly address the needs of the state’s children and families.”

Anyone want to predict whether the newly elected lawmakers set to get to work this winter plan to address policies that would — truly — increase economic stability and improve educational outcomes?

Those of us working so hard this holiday season to create magical experiences for children we know had better DEMAND of our lawmakers that they use their energy to work on behalf of ALL West Virginia kids.

And I’m not talking about the absolutely insane, intentionally backward socio-cultural nonsense they’ve been told will help them score a few political points. They know in their core those don’t help kids, and so do the rest of us.

In this season of hope, give your lawmakers the gift of knowing what you expect from them is that they score political points by aiming for a West Virginia where all kids have a chance of living in comfort and joy.

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com