A new study has shown that 51% of U.S. public school students have become eligible for reduced or free lunch in school. The new statistics shows that majority of students in public schools come from low income families, a first in the last 50 years.
"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 in 2013," The Southern Education Foundation reported on their website.
The state that came in with the most number of students in the lunch program was Mississippi, with 71 percent. Statistics showed that at least three out of four public school students come from low income families. New Mexico came in second, with 68 percent of students from its public schools were from low income backgrounds.
Researchers determined low income families through federal data in 2013. The data showed the number of students who were eligible for the reduced or free lunch program in their school. The lunch program is available to families who are below the 185 percent poverty level set by the federal government.
Poverty status, according to the United States Census Bureau, is determined through a comparison of the pre-tax cash income and the "threshold that is set at three times the cost of a minimum food diet."
This measure is updated every year for inflation and is modified based on factors such as family size, age of the members in the household, and the family's composition.
For instance, the poverty level for a family with four members is less than $24,000, 185 percent of this is $44,000.
The new statistics for 2013 poverty among public school children is a serious matter that needs attention from the government. SEF Vice President Steve Suitts called the new study a sign of "a nation in decline."
"No longer can we consider the problems and needs of low income students simply a matter of fairness... Their success or failure in the public schools will determine the entire body of human capital and educational potential that the nation will possess in the future. Without improving the educational support that the nation provides its low income students - students with the largest needs and usually with the least support -- the trends of the last decade will be prologue for a nation not at risk, but a nation in decline," SEF Vice President Steve Suitts said.
