CT Has 3rd Lowest Percentage of Low Income Students in Public Schools, Nationwide Numbers Exceed 50 Percent

For the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of public school students across the country are considered “low-income," according to a new study by the Southern Education Foundation. While poor children are spread across the country, concentrations are highest in the South and in the West. Connecticut has among the lowest percentages in the nation. The latest data collected from the states by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), show that 51 percent of the students across the nation’s public schools were low income in 2013. In 40 of the 50 states, low income students comprised no less than 40 percent of all public schoolchildren. In 21 states, children eligible for free or reduced-price lunches were a majority of the students.

Connecticut, which ranked tied for third, was among only ten states where the percentage of “low-income” students was below 40 percent. The states are Virginia (39%), Ohio (39%), Wyoming (38%), Minnesota (38%), Massachusetts (37%), New Jersey (37%), Connecticut (36%), Vermont (36%) North Dakota (30%) and New Hampshire (27%), which had the nation’s lowest percentage of low income (eligible for free and reduced lunches) public school students.

Thirteen of the 21 states with a majority of low income students in 2013 were located in the South, and six of the other 21 states were in the West. Mississippi led the nation with the highest rate: 71 percent, almost three out of every four public school children in Mississippi, were low-income. The nation’s second highest rate was found in New Mexico, where 68 percent of all public school students were low income in 2013.

The report noted that “this defining moment in enrollment in public education in the United States comes as a consequence of a steadily growing trend that has persisted over several decades.”

In 1989, less than 32 percent of the nation’s public school students were low-income. By 2000, the national rate as compiled and calculated by NCES had increased to over 38 percent. By 2006, the national rate was 42 percent and, after the Great Recession, the rate climbed in 2011 to 48 percent, the report indicated.

The 2013 data suggests that six other states are on the verge of reaching a majority of low income students in the near future, if current trends continue. In Indiana and Oregon, 49 percent of the public schoolchildren were low income. In New York and Kansas, the rates were 48 percent. In Idaho and Michigan, rates were 47 percent.

The report concludes by stating that “The trends of the last decade strongly suggest that little or nothing will change for the better if schools and communities continue to postpone addressing the primary question of education in America today: what does it take and what will be done to provide low income students with a good chance to succeed in public schools? It is a question of how, not where, to improve the education of a new majority of students.”

Founded in 1867 as the George Peabody Education Fund, the Southern Education Foundation’s mission is to advance equity and excellence in education for all students in the South, particularly low income students and students of color. The organization's "core belief is that education is the vehicle by which all students get fair chances to develop their talents and contribute to the common good."

CT Ranks 4th in Participation in Summer Meal Programs for Low-Income Children

Participation in Summer Meal Programs for low-income children increased in Connecticut in 2013 as compared with the previous summer, with 26.4 percent of low-income children receiving summer meals on an average day in July 2013. This represents an increase of 2.4 percent from the previous summer and ranks CT 4th in the nation for participation. The numbers are increasing nationally as well as in Connecticut. In 2013, for the first time in a decade, the number of low-income children eating summer meals saw a substantial increase year-over-year, according to a report by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). Nearly three million children participated in the Summer Nutrition Programs in July 2013, an increase of 161,000 children, or 5.7 percent, from July 2012.

FRAC measures the success of Summer Nutrition Programs at the national and state levels by comparing the number of children receiving summer meals to the number of low-income children receiving school lunch during the regular school year. The programs grew to serve 15.1 children for every 100 low-income children who participated in school lunch during the 2012-2013 school year, a modest increase from the 14.3 per 100 served in the 2011-2012 school year.

End Hunger Connecticut! noted that summer meals in Connecticut still only reached 26.4 students for every 100 low-income children who received regular school year school meals in the 2012-2013 school year. The number of sites increased slightly, from 217 to 236.

“When the school year ends, millions of low-income children lose access to school meals, including about 147,587 in Connecticut. It is in Connecticut’s best interest to ensure that such children have adequate nutrition during the summer so they stay healthy, active and return to school in the fall ready to learn,” Lucy Nolan, Executive Director, End Hunger Connecticut!, said. “While we are extremely proud of our place nationally, we still have a lot of work to do.”

Ranked just above Connecticut in participation were the District of Columbia, New Mexico and New York. Rounding out the top 10 were Vermont, Arkansas, Idaho, Delaware, Maine and Massachusetts.

To further increase the number of Connecticut children who participate in summer meals programs, End Hunger Connecticut! convened partners, community leaders and volunteers to distribute multilingual flyers, posters and other promotional materials at the start of the summer to promote Connecticut’s federally funded free summer meals program.

This year marks the third consecutive year that End Hunger Connecticut! has coordinated ‘blitz days’ in communities across the state to drive summer meals participation. Results of the initiative will be known later this year.

Increasing participation means more nutritious food for hungry children, but it also means more federal funding for communities, officials noted. If every state had reached the goal of 40 children participating in Summer Nutrition in July 2013 for every 100 receiving free or reduced-price lunch during the 2012-2013 school year, an additional 4.8 million children would have been fed each day, and states would have collected an additional $365 million in child nutrition funding in July alone, they point out.

The Summer Nutrition Programs, which include the Summer Food Service Program and the National School Lunch Program, are designed to fill the food gap for the thousands of low-income Connecticut children who rely on school breakfast and lunch during the school year. These programs provide free meals at participating summer sites at schools, parks, other public agencies, and nonprofits for children under 18.

Connecticut families can find nearby summer meal sites at www.ctsummermeals.org, by calling toll free2-1-1 or by texting ‘CTMeals’ to 877-877.These tools are instrumental for families to find the closest free meals in their communities.

FRAC measures national summer participation during the month of July, when typically all children are out of school throughout the month and lose access to regular school year meals. The national report, including Connecticut data, is available online at www.frac.org

Majority of Students in 17 States Are Low Income, Study Finds; Connecticut Schools Among Most Income Diverse, Except in Cities

Echoing concerns that “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” a new study is raising alarm about the dramatically increasing percentage of low income students in American public schools – and the implications for the education of a generation of school children.

A new study from the Southern Education Foundation shows that 17 U.S. states have reached an unenviable tipping point: the majority of students in their public school systems receive free lunches — effectively indicating that the public school systems in these states can now be described as institutions that mostly serve the poor, rather than public institutions that serve a representative cross-section of their state’s population.

As states coast-to-coast reach that new imbalance – particularly in the South and West – the Northeast, including Connecticut, continue to have the smallest percentages of low income students in their public schools, according to the most recent data used in the study, from 2011. The states with majority-poor school systems include almost the entire South, as well as Oregon, Nevada, and California.

The study pointed out that “from 2001 through 2011, the numbers of low income students in the nation’s public schools grew by 32 percent – an increase of more than 5.7 million children. As a result, low income students attending the nation’s public schools moved from 38 percent of all students in 2001 to 48 percent in 2011.”

In Connecticut, the percentage of low income students in public schools was only 34 percent, among the lowest percentages in the nation.  Only four states had a lower or equal percentage – New Hampshire (25%), North Dakota (32%), New Jersey (33%) and Massachusetts (34%).

The largest percentage of low income students were in Mississippi (71%), New Mexico (68%), Louisiana (66%), Oklahoma (60%), Arkansas (60%), Georgia (57%), Kentucky (57%), Florida (56%), Alabama (55%), Tennessee (55%), South Carolina (55%) and California (54%).

Overall, the rates of low income students in the public schools, by region, was 53 percent in the South, 50 percent in the West, 44 percent in the Midwest and 40 percent in the Northeast.  The national average was 48 percent. As the report pointed out, “in 2011 the nation stood within only two percentage points of enrolling a majority of low income students in public schools across 50 states.”

The study  also compared the rates of low income students in cities, suburbs and rural areas in each state.  In each of the nation’s four regions, a majority of students attending public schools in the cities were eligible for free or reduced lunch.

The Northeast had the highest rates for low income school children in cities: 71 percent. The next highest rate, 62 percent, was found in Midwestern cities. The South had the third highest percentage of low income students in the cities – 59 percent.  In Connecticut, 62 percent of students in the cities were low income students, compared with 26 percent in the suburbs and 13 percent in rural areas.

“Low income students are concentrated in the nation’s cities but are by no measure confined to only cities,” the study noted.  “Forty percent or more of all public school children in the nation’s suburbs, towns and rural areas are low income students.”

 The report, released in October 2013,  indicated that low income students “generally are more likely to score lowest on school tests, fall behind in school, fail to graduate, and never receive a college degree,” and yet “the growth in the number of low income students far out-stripped the growth in per pupil spending in public schools during the last decade in every region of the country, except the Northeast.”  The nations per pupil expenditure (adjusted for inflation) in public schools increased by only 14 percent – less than half the rate of growth in the numbers of low income students,” according to the report.

The study concludes by stating that “The trends of the last decade strongly suggest that little or nothing will change for the better if schools and communities continue to postpone addressing the primary question of education in America today: what does it take and what will be done to provide low income students with a good chance to succeed in public schools? It is a question of how, not where, to improve the education of a new majority of students.”

The Southern Education Foundation’s mission is to advance equity and excellence in education for low income students and students of color.  The Foundation’s “core belief is that education is the vehicle by which all students get fair chances to develop their talents and contribute to the common good.”