Mississippi again finds itself at the bottom of a list. This time the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count Data Report ranked the state 50th in an assessment that measures child well-being, education, health and family/community.

The report found that 34 percent of the state’s children live in poverty, a 4 percent increase since 2008. Nationally, 22 percent of children live in poverty.

Thirty-nine percent of children have parents who lack secure employment, also an increase. Twelve percent of teenagers in the state are not in school and not working. That number increased since 2008. More than half — 52 percent — of children in the state are not attending preschool.

Other categories that worsened include the percentage of children in single-parent families and the percentage of children living in high-poverty areas.

The bright spot in the report, if being ranked 48th in a category can be considered a bright spot, was in education. The state improved in three key areas of education — fourth graders not proficient in reading, eighth graders not proficient in math and high school students not graduating on time.

The state also reduced the percentage of low-birthweight babies, the percentage of children without health insurance and the number of child and teen deaths.

The report doesn’t paint a pretty picture of what it’s like to be a child in Mississippi. The question now is how do we change these numbers?

It’s easy to pretend that the children represented in the report are from somewhere else, and not in our own communities. While some of Lincoln County’s children are better off than the statewide report suggests, some are not. There is real poverty here in Lincoln County and that poverty has real consequences.

As a community and a state, we must prioritize the well-being of children. That involves investing in pre-K programs as well as investing in K-12 education. Until we decide that education is a priority, the state will continue to find itself at the bottom of lists like these.