Thread: Meal Aid Hits New High. Half of CA Public Students Enrolled

Since the article makes no mention I guess none of these are illegals or anchors....

More than half of California's K-12 public education students enrolled in free or reduced-price meal programs last year, the first time that the majority of youngsters were approved for assistance, according to state and federal officials.

California was one of a dozen states where the majority of students were certified for such programs, said Jean Daniel, a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman.

In Contra Costa, almost a third of all students signed up for the federally subsidized lunch and breakfast programs, the third school year in a row the county has seen an increase in the percentage of students. Nearly seven out of 10 Pittsburg students enrolled, the largest percentage in Contra Costa, and an increase for the fifth year in a row. Roughly six out of 10 West Contra Costa students registered, according to the state Department of Education.

"That's what schools are combating -- the impact of poverty," said Tom Tesler, director of categorical programs for Antioch schools, where almost 40 percent of students are enrolled in meal assistance. "The overlying factor that no one argues with is why students perform poorly is poverty. The socio-economic condition makes it difficult for them to do well in school."

State and federal officials, food-policy advocates and scholars point to a variety of factors for the increase, such as higher costs of living and stagnant wages, improved efforts to enroll students and changing views that school-meal programs are an important tool for families.

More funds for meals

Although some scholars consider the milestone another sign of public school decline, school food service managers and food-policy advocates see the increasing percentage of enrollees as a boon. Not only does it mean more students are being served, it also brings more federal money to school districts.

"It's good for me financially," said Heidy Camorongan, director of food services for West Contra Costa schools. "The more free-and-reduced students I have who qualify -- I can feed them. Then once I feed them, I can claim reimbursement from the (federal government) and the state."

The larger trend of growing need may be difficult to address, but the federal government's capacity to change nutrition is huge, said Matt Sharp of California Food Policy Advocates.

"On the micro level it positively influences the long-term eating habits of half of public-school children in the state," he said.

To be eligible for free meals, the income of a student's family must be at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty line. For a family of four, that will equal $26,000 next school year.

To qualify for reduced-price meals, for which students are not charged more than 40 cents, annual income must be from 131 percent to 185 percent of the poverty line, which would be at or below $37,000 next year for the same-sized family. A full-cost lunch is $2.50 at Antioch secondary schools, for instance, and $2.25 at elementary schools.

'Psychological marker'

Although the percentage of the enrolled students hovered under 50 percent for the three previous school years, crossing the majority threshold is a psychological marker for California, said Sean Reardon, an education professor at Stanford University.

That does not mean that half the state's families are poor, said Deborah Reed, an economist with the Public Policy Institute of California. But free and reduced-price lunches commonly are used to gauge child poverty and are a prime marker of a school's socio-economic structure.

A 2003 Public Policy Institute study shows that a school's academic performance tends to decline when the percentage of students who receive free or reduced-price lunch increases.

The state's child poverty rate stayed relatively the same from 2000 to 2004, at about 20 percent, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty. The percentage of low-income children, which includes poor children, declined slightly in that period to about 43 percent.

Meanwhile, state Department of Education figures show that the percentage of students who receive free or reduced-price lunch has increased over the past five school years. Kathleen Walden, assistant director of child nutrition services for Pittsburg schools, said she sees more students approved for reduced-price lunch and fewer free lunches.

Federal law

Part of the 2004 reauthorization of the National School Lunch Act, which President Truman signed into law in 1946 as a response to malnourished young men rejected in the World War II draft, was a requirement for all schools to use an existing streamlined process to enroll students whose families receive food stamps.

Direct certification, which may have contributed to the increase, will be phased in over three years, but now applies only to school districts with more than 25,000 students, Daniel said.

Officials, advocates and scholars said they believe many more students are eligible but do not apply for meal assistance. They attribute this to fewer older students signing up for the programs because they have more food choices and believe there is a stigma associated with free or reduced-price meals. Program participation in California was about 1 million students fewer than enrollment in 2004-05, said Madeleine Levin, senior policy analyst for the Washington-based Food Research and Action Center.

To disguise participating students, Mt. Diablo schools encourage the use of prepaid student cards to pay for meals, said Kathleen Corrigan, the district's director for food and nutrition services. Cashiers scan the card at the register, but no one can tell whether a student has prepaid or gets free meals.

Another push in poor schools, such as Grant Elementary in West Contra Costa, is to apply for a schoolwide designation so all students receive meal assistance, said Phyllis Bramson-Paul, director of the Nutrition Services Division of the state Department of Education.

At Turner Elementary School in Antioch, where about 67 percent were signed up for free or reduced-price meals, students are proud that they are "free," said cafeteria cashier Suzanne Ferraro. "They think it's a bonus. It's out of control."

Private schools

Although there is a perception that more students are fleeing public education, enrollment in private schools decreased by 9 percent from 2000 to 2005, according to the state Department of Education. In Contra Costa and Alameda counties, the percentage of students enrolled in private schools has stayed about the same the past three years, about 10 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

Still, the converging trends of deteriorating public service, globalization and the marketization of schools leave the state in bad shape, said Barrie Thorne, a sociology professor at UC Berkeley who has studied students' attitudes toward meal-assistance programs.

"The larger message is the growing gap of rich and poor and the hourglass shape of the class structure in California," Thorne said. "It really is a tragedy. Our ability to think about these problems depends on our exposure to them."


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http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cct ... 063383.htm

That's what schools are combating -- the impact of poverty," said Tom Tesler, director of categorical programs for Antioch schools, where almost 40 percent of students are enrolled in meal assistance. "The overlying factor that no one argues with is why students perform poorly is poverty. The socio-economic condition makes it difficult for them to do well in school."

Middle class disolving into poverty........but hey...there's nothing going on!
The rich are doing quite nice....thank you very much.

Just goes to show that these idiots LOVE to have more government control! They are to stupid to see that the more they take from government the more control government has on them and they won't see it until the trap is srpung and they can't get out! That is why the hard working middle class is under attack. Because we work hard and have some pride and ethics and don't want to depend on someone else. The elites will do everything they can to break us! Unfortunately they are doing a damned good job! When they break the middle class, it's over and they know it!

Well, when hell freezes over!

"It's good for me financially," said Heidy Camorongan, director of food services for West Contra Costa schools. "The more free-and-reduced students I have who qualify -- I can feed them. Then once I feed them, I can claim reimbursement from the (federal government) and the state."

I'm no economist, but it seems that for this to be true Heidy would need to bill the government for more than she spent.

So, either Heidy is an idiot, or she's stealing from the taxpayers. Or maybe both.