New Milestone: Majority of Public School Students Now Considered Low-Income

[KamaAina]

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesforengagement/2015/01/new_milestone_majority_of_public_school_students_now_considered_low-income.html

For the first time in recent history, a majority of students in U.S. public schools are low-income, according to an analysis of federal data by the Southern Education Foundation released Friday.

In 2013, 51 percent of public school students qualified for free and reduced-price meals, a common indicator of poverty in education, according to the most recent data from The National Center for Education Statistics.

It's a continuation of a trend that's been building for years and a "defining moment" for the U.S. education system, which must find ways to confront the barriers poverty creates for academic achievement in order to thrive, the analysis says.

"No longer can we consider the problems and needs of low income students simply a matter of fairness," the report said, quoting from a previous analysis. "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."

Seldom is the question asked, "Why isn't our children learning?" </dubya> Maybe if the one-percenters and wannabes hadn't abandoned the public schools in such numbers, this wouldn't be happening.

[hifiguy]

1. Brought to you by Repukes at the federal,

state and local levels. They won't rest until they destroy public education entirely. Fuckers.

I don't know if it's Minnesota Practical or what but the most well-off people I know - and they are very well off - sent their kids exclusively to public schools from Grade 1 on. They all went to or are going to go to the University of Minnesota or other top-notch schools.