Article published January 10, 2008
14,500 Toledo Public students were poor in '05
Figure now is same or higher, officials say
By MEGHAN GILBERT
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The U.S. Census Bureau yesterday released data of 2005 poverty estimates that showed about 14,500 students in Toledo Public Schools were poor.
The system had 46,880 students in 2005, so roughly 31 percent were classified as poor.
That figure likely is the same or even higher now, officials said.
The data looked at the country's nearly 14,000 Title I-eligible school districts, which includes Ohio's urban districts that had an average of 3.4 percent of their students ages 5 through 17 in families in poverty in 2005.
In Toledo, 14,548 students fell in that category that year, up nearly 16 percent from 12,547 in 2004. The 2004 figure was significantly higher than the 10,869 in 2003.
While 2005's is the most recent census data, Superintendent John Foley said the poverty rate in the district isn't likely to have fallen, based on the number of students who receive free and reduced-price lunches. About 56 percent of students got the discounted lunches in the 2003-04 school year, Mr. Foley said, a figure that has grown steadily over the years and was at nearly 67 percent last school year."We know and we feel that we certainly continue to see challenges for our students, and part of our job is to close the gap between poverty and race and all those issues in terms of student achievement," Mr. Foley said.
Ohio's other urban districts' students in poverty numbers in 2005 were:
•Akron, 8,324.
•Cincinnati, 15,746.
•Cleveland, 36,108.
•Columbus, 21,954.
•Dayton, 9,891.
•Youngstown, 4,477.
Mr. Foley said one challenge for urban districts is having the funding to assist their higher numbers of students in poverty and with special needs. "As we see an increase in students identified as high poverty, we've also seen funding cuts," he said.
Lucas County Job and Family Services had helped low-income students with school uniform purchases, but the program was dropped in fiscal year 2007 because of federal funding cuts.
The county also helps fund after-school programs for the most challenged schools.
County information also was included in the estimates released yesterday.
In Lucas County, 76,191 people were in poverty in 2005, with 28,653 under age of 18. Median household income was $40,513.
According to the Census Bureau, the poverty information is produced for the Department of Education to implement provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. The data are among criteria used to allocate federal funds to local jurisdictions.
Permanent Link
|
|
 |
|
Search
advertisement
