For Raising Kids, City Isn’T Half Bad But National Survey Grades Spokane As Merely Average In Most Areas

Spokane found out in May it’s a lousy place to do business; now it knows it’s an above average place to raise kids.

Those are the reviews Spokane has received recently in attention-getting national publications. Spokane ranked 22nd of 112 mid-sized cities in a report on “kid-friendliness” released Tuesday by Zero Population Growth in Washington, D.C.

Spokane - where “a great place to raise kids” is practically an unofficial motto - received a grade of C on the national report card in all categories except health. That includes education, environment, public safety, economics and transportation.

Overall, a grade of B was awarded Spokane, because the survey placed a high priority on health issues, said Tim Cline, spokesman for Zero Population Growth, a nonprofit organization working to slow population growth.

“Except for doing well above average in the health category, the rest are dead-center national average,” Cline said.

The string of C’s is somewhat better than Spokane earned in the Forbes magazine survey that ranked Spokane the 161st-worst place to do business. That was out of 162 communities included in the May survey.

The financial report gave added weight to growth in the technology industry, leaving Spokane lagging behind.

In the kid-friendliness survey, the top-scoring mid-sized city was Fargo, N.D., with an A+; Newark, N.J., ranked last with an F.

Seattle ranked first among major cities with an A+ and Baltimore ranked last in that category.

Spokane schools Superintendent Gary Livingston said he questions the way the education category was scored. Only dropout rates and the percentage of kids going to preschool were considered. In those areas, Spokane scored slightly above average.

“Their measures for that category are way too narrow,” said Livingston, adding that the survey should have looked at test scores and the percentage of students going on to college and technical schools as well.

“If they’d look at a more comprehensive picture, we’d be above average,” he said.

Spokane did score better than average in the teenage pregnancy category, with 12 percent of births being to teenagers. That’s compared with 16 percent in similar-sized cities nationwide.

Spokane also has a lower infant mortality rate than other cities - 7.4 percent compared with 9.3 percent. Fewer children are born underweight - 6.4 percent compared with a national average of 8.5 percent.

Kim Thorburn, health officer with the Spokane Regional Health District, said she isn’t surprised by the health services ranking.

“Washington has public health programs that really target those issues and Spokane participates actively,” she said.

She listed beneficial programs such as First Steps, a statewide effort that made more women eligible for Medicaid and encourages prenatal care and medical care after birth, and the federal government’s Women, Infants and Children program.

Joanne Benham, city-county youth director, said the survey “tells us we’re doing fairly good but there’s room for improvement. Where we have room to grow is mentoring. We can use more mentors, helping to prepare them for the world of work.”

Teenagers in Spokane also need more youth centers and activities, Benham said. That could help improve the public safety grade of “C,” which looked at violence and property crimes, she said.