Low Income Affects Education in the USA

The Southern Education Foundation has released a demographic map to include the percentage of students attending public schools that are considered "low income" based upon subsidization for lunches. Now, this statement does not conclude that each of the students qualifying for subsidized lunches and thus considered "low income" are living in poverty (though there are some that are), it means that the students' parental income does not exceed 185% of the poverty level. To qualify for a free lunch, the parental income does not exceed 135% of the poverty level; for reduced lunch fares, parental income does not exceed 185% of the poverty line. The Federal poverty threshold in 2013 was $23,550 for a family of four.

Source: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesforengagement/Percent-of-Low-Income-Students-in-PS-2015.png

The National Average "Low Income" Percentage
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/17/us/school-poverty-study-southern-education-foundation.html?_r=0

The status of US funding for education doesn't seem to be getting better, and neither are the obstacles that the politicians and administrators face... In 1993, the US national average for low-income students was 33%. Twenty years later, in 2013, the average has risen to 51%. It seems the quality of education that can or cannot be afforded, is being hindered by a need to provide food for our children. Surely, the Nation's unemployment percentage has decreased to 5.6% in 2014, and the annual median income has risen from $43,000 to $51,000 from 1967 to 2010. So, why has the national average for "low income" schools increased at a rate that is not proportionate to the national average annual income?? And more importantly, what does this mean for the education of the future generations, if a larger percentage of the funding provided by the government is covering meals rather than books or teachers? What does this mean for the schools and for our children?

Source: http://www.davemanuel.com/median-household-income.php

According to an article released 17 January 2015 by Education Week:

What does this mean for schools?
Schools have, of course, been confronted by the challenges of poverty for years, but crossing the majority threshold certainly creates a powerful conversation point in debates on the local, state, and federal levels about issues ranging from equity and accountability to student supports.
"That deepening poverty likely will complicate already fraught political discussions on how to educate American students, as prior research has shown students are significantly more at risk academically in schools with 40 percent or higher concentrations of poverty," Education Week wrote when it covered growing trends of poverty in 2013.
And, as Rules for Engagement previously reported, poor families are increasingly moving into the suburbs and living in areas with high concentrations of poverty, creating dimensions to the debate.
The new majority of low-income students is yet another new reality for American educators. U.S. schools hit another major milestone this year, when the U.S. Department of Education projected that a majority of students would be from racial and ethnic minority populations.

While poverty is challenging schools everywhere, some schools have fewer resources to address it.