50% + of Alabama public school kids live in poverty

[donsu]

Yes world, america's streets are not paved with gold

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20050311&Category=APN&ArtNo=503110941&SectionCat=&Template=printart


Report: Half of Alabama public school students now in poverty


The percentage of Alabama public school students living in poverty has crossed the 50 percent mark for the first time, according to the state education officials.

The Alabama State Department of Education released more than 1,200 "report cards" Thursday rating the state's 1,529 public schools. The reports show that 50.7 percent of Alabama's students receive free or reduced-price meals at school, an indicator of poverty.

The majority of children in 71 of the state's 129 school districts are from poor families.

Superintendent Joe Morton said they have learned how to help poor children succeed by training teachers through its reading initiative and the new Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative.

Morton said the state should fund both programs so they can be spread to every school.

"It's imperative we get the funding from the Legislature," Morton said. "If we don't, then, yes, they are doomed ... to underperformance and a life of sheer agony by growing up as adults who cannot perform adequate literacy measures and do math and science. It would be a travesty for us to know how to fix that and not fix it."
-snip-
-------------------------------


DOOMED in Alabama

[NMDemDist2]

1. that's just wrong

it just WRONG that children in America are hungry especially at those numbers

[donco6]

2. Dupe.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1303826

[gizmo1979]

3. Oh no the children have been left behind.

Will someone please take Bush on a tour of the real America?

[gizmo1979]

4. One more thing

Alabama is one of those moral red states.How is it fucking moral to have half your kids live in poverty?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. "morality" only applies to sex and whites doncha know?

And, only to whites who are gay or get caught.

[ultraist]

10. Good point! Race is a HUGE issue here

Schools in the state's Black Belt and urban schools - in systems such as Montgomery, Mobile, Bessemer, Birmingham and Midfield - struggle the hardest to meet their goals. More affluent systems - such as Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, Homewood, Hoover, Auburn and Madison - are among the systems that do the best job meeting goals.

I read an interesting study the other day that showed that the areas of the country with the highest poverty rates are correlated with areas that had the most slaves. 140 years later, they are STILL feeling the effects.

I think Alabama has the highest poverty rate in the nation.

[lateo]

6. Jesus lived in poverty...

So I guess it is good enough for them too...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

9. More South-bashing. Why don't you look around in your own state....

...and find out how many kids are living in poverty there? You might be greatly surprised at the answer.

[ultraist]

11. citing FACTS is not bashing

Alabama DOES have a very high poverty rate.

BTW, I live in NC. ;)

National poverty rate: 12.4%

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US01&-_box_head_nbr=R01&-ds_name=ACS_2003_EST_G00_&-_lang=en&-format=US-30&-_sse=on

States with the highest poverty rates:
Louisiana
20.3
19.3
21.3

2
District of Columbia
19.9
18.4
21.5

2
Mississippi
19.9
18.9
21.0

4
New Mexico
18.6
17.1
20.1

5
West Virginia
18.5
17.3
19.7

6
Kentucky
17.4
16.0
18.9

7
Alabama
17.1
16.4
17.8

8
Texas
16.3
15.7
17.0

9
Oklahoma
16.1
14.9
17.3

10
Arkansas

[hfojvt]

14. I see that Minnesota is 50th

Years back, their Republican governor said of my home state (SD) that it was 50th in everything.
It illustrates my point though.
Especially since 17.1% for Alabama is less than it was in 1979 when it was 18.9% of individuals and 14.8% of families. I still say that the 50% number makes no sense unless they are giving reduced price meals to kids with families making up to 200% of the poverty level income.

[hfojvt]

13. well I was gonna say

my school district for grade school makes the same claim, and I do not know how it can be true. Poverty rates for the county as a whole are about 10% so it boggles my mind that so many kids could be in poor families. I see that 14.8% of Alabama families were poor in 1979, so it is amazing to me that the rate rises to over 50% for families with children. I cannot find statistics on family sizes (what percentage of the population has children) but suppose 50% of all households have children, if their poverty rate is over 50% wouldn't the over-all poverty rate have to be more than 25%. The whole thing does not compute for me, although I am not going to google up-to-date statistics.

[etherealtruth]

15. Recently read some UN stats on this....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/4307745.stm

I will guess that single mothers and their children add significantly to these numbers---especially in the first few years after divorce. Though college educated and in the (lower end of the) UMC, my children and I met the definition of poverty for the first couple years after divorce...I realize it's only anecdotal, but I have encountered many single parents who have experienced this.

[etherealtruth]

7. Morality = increased corporate profit

That's what right wing policy looks like to me.

[Doctor_J]

8. It's the red state compassionate conservatism

Gotta get to Europe

[FreedomAngel82]

12. Pathetic

See what we could be doing instead of spending thousands in Iraq? *sigh* Shortly before the election MTV2 had a special election thing with hiphop artist's and they went around urban areas and showed houses and schools. It's really sad. :cry: In this one school Xzibit and some other guy were talking about it and saying in the school they have poor heating/air, not everybody gets a meal, kids have to share desks and school books so not everybody can do their homework, broken window's. The home's were really shattered too. :(