Friday, November 30, 2012

Wide range of poverty in CMS schools

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools released its annual report on student poverty levels Friday. See the levels for each school here  (the document lists schools alphabetically,  followed by the same list sorted by poverty levels).

There has been no significant change in the overall level,  with just over 54 percent of all students qualifying for lunch subsidies for the second year in a row.  Individual school levels range from 4 percent at Providence Spring Elementary to almost 97 percent at Hidden Valley Elementary.

Public schools across the country use eligibility for free and reduced-price lunches as a gauge of family poverty.  See this year's N.C. income cutoffs here.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

F/RL numbers for the most part are meaningless and are an indication of nothing. There may be as much as 60% fraud in those who apply and the income to quality is much higher (double I think) than what is traditionally meant by federal poverty level for anyone.

Its confusing and inaccurate to say these numbers tell us ANYTHING about poverty in CMS, and there is no confidence in the numbers to begin with. So they certainly can't tell us anything about a trend up or down....

Anonymous said...

Oh, and they tell us nothing about the levels between schools, as they fraud may vary between schools, again, leaving no confidence in the data.

tarhoosier said...

The first thing these numbers tell us is to what extent the families are willing to submit their information to the system and government and also to what extent the students are willing to be identified as poverty families and accept public identification in the lunch line as a recipient of aid.
HS students elect FRL at a lower percentage than MS or Elem, and always have.

Anonymous said...

Just give all the kids a free lunch.

Why discriminate?

Anonymous said...

Full of fraud. I personally know a family that used a partial paycheck to qualify for free lunch. More free stuff for freeloaders!

Anonymous said...

End the free lunches. If you can't afford to feed your children, you shouldn't have them.

Anonymous said...

Get rid of the BLOAT at the Central Office. If you do not teach at least one class, then you should not receive a HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLAR PLUS SALARY.