Comparing texas - Research Paper Example

Over the years the numbers have changed considerably in some categories whereas in others Texas seems to be doing considerably well. Take the category for ‘State Taxes’ for example. In 2009 Texas ranked as the 49th country whereas now it is occupies the 46th spot. Moving towards the education sector and state rankings we see Texas’s ‘high school graduate rate’ stands on the 41st spot among all states whereas in 2010 there is a decrease in this rate as Texas drops 2 ranks down and now occupies the 43rd number; showing that the high school graduate rate is dropped in the state or grown sufficiently in the other states.

This fact surprised me considerably mostly because when you look at the category ‘Percent of Elementary/Secondary School Funding from State Revenue’, we see in 2009 Texas was on the 47th spot showing the low amount of funding being allocated to the education sector whereas there is a drastic improvement in this aspect as in 2010 Texas now stands on the 37th spot; which would obviously relay the fact that more funds are being injected into the education sector and yet it is surprising that the high school graduate rate seems to have dropped. . Obesity in children is an alarmingly increasing problem which is a growing challenge for all states Texas has done reasonably well in this category and I cannot help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment at this feat.

That being said ‘the percent of children living in poverty’ has gone up as Texas now ranks 4th which is 3 spots more than it did in 2009. Another area of concern is that of health care. Texas has consistently been ranked on top of the list of states with ‘percent of population uninsured.’ With very minor or no difference in their rank as far as health professionals per capita( Nurses, Physicians and registered nurses) are concerned. As far as the overall environment is concerned Texas seems to be doing considerably bad with no effective implementation of measures to improve the environment.

This can be seen in they way Texas has ranked 1 in 2009 and 2011 as having the most amounts of ‘Air Pollution Emissions’, ‘Amount of Volatile Organic Compounds Released into Air’ and ‘Amount of Toxic Chemicals Released into Water’ The three major problems that can be identified by looking at the rankings for Texas over the years are those of: Healthcare, Environment and Education. In the healthcare sector, the category of ‘percent of population uninsured’ is a cause of great concern.

In the education sector, the category of ‘high school graduate rate’ with Texas dropping from the 41st rank in 2009 to 43rd in 2010. As far as the environment is concerned, the numerous categories such as ‘air pollution emissions’, ‘amount of volatile organic compounds released into air’ and ‘amount of toxic chemicals released into water’ all seem to have Texas on the number