How many low-income children does it take to replace one janitor at a school?

This is not the opening line of a joke. Sadly, it is a subject that Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich keeps talking about and, as a result, one we keep hearing about in the debates and news media.

Even sadder is that he and the other candidates in the race have had little else to say about children. An informative report by Voices for America’s Children notes that children’s issues commanded scarcely 2 percent of the attention in the first 10 Republican presidential candidate debates and less of that in total discussion and debate time.

Our next generation, along with their parents and other adults who care about them, deserve better. Here are three children’s issues I wish the candidates would start discussing:

•    How to make all our communities healthy and safe places that support children’s growth and learning, because place matters for children.

•    How to preserve and strengthen safety net programs, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps), which have proven especially effective at reducing child poverty.

•    How to promote opportunity for all of the 63 million children under the age of 19 in this country.

I hope you will add to this list – either in our comment section (below) or in your own blog post.