The Center for Public Policy Priorities has released its annual Texas Kids Count data book, The State of Texas Children 2009-2010, and a third of the children in Kleberg County live below the poverty level.

“Decades of belt tightening (in Texas) have left us with more poor, uninsured, and hungry children than almost every other state,” Frances Deviney, Texas Kids Count director, said.

In Kleberg County, 2,489 children, or 32.8 percent, live below the poverty level.

“Texas spends less per person than any other state,” Deviney said.

For the 10th consecutive year, Texas also has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation, with 20 percent of Texas children without health insurance — nearly twice the national average.

The rate of uninsured children in Kleberg County is predicted to rise to 24 percent in 2010 or 2,135 children without health insurance.

Just ahead of the 2010 national census count and with Kleberg County’s population listed at 30,370, the number of children here is estimated to be 7,483 compared to 8,600 tabulated from the 2000 U.S. census.

Some 3,129 youngsters here are receiving Medicaid assistance, which represents about 40 percent of the youth population in the county.

The median household income for Kleberg County is estimated at $37,008, which is ranked 151st out of 254 Texas counties, compared to $29,551 for the county in the 2000 U.S. Census. The estimated Texas median household income is $47,563.

Texas faces the secondhighest rate of child food insecurity in the nation, with 16.3 percent (1.4 million) Texas households unsure where their next meal will come from, or how they will afford it in 2006-2008.

In Kleberg County, 3,208 (or 42.9 percent) of children received Food Stamp assistance.

When it comes to public education students living in Kleberg County have improved their test scores, some dramatically, compared to the data from the 2000 census.

For instance, eleventh grade TAKS scores almost doubled in math and reading from 2000 to 2008-2009 school year.

Nonetheless, Kleberg County public education showed one of the worst high school dropout rates in the state, ranking 241st out of 254 counties for a dropout rate of 15.5 percent. The state rate was 10.5 percent.

Only 71.5 percent of the high school students in Kleberg County received a diploma, while the state average 79.1 percent. The county ranked 240th in the state.

However, those youngsters who failed to get their diploma still recognized the value of education. Kleberg County was ranked as one of the highest in the number of students who went back to get their GED, ranking 16th in the state.