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Old 01-21-2015, 08:32 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,398,027 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyTexan View Post
The last time the statistics were released was for 2010 and nearly 50% of US births were paid for by medicaid. In the 5 years since do you think that number went up or down ?
Well, the economy is better now, so maybe down? OTOH, Medicaid has expanded since the ACA, so maybe up. Medicaid births are not a good marker for poverty in school; kids start school 5-6 years later, and continue for 13 years. Economic circumstances change. Eligibility for medicaid is not poverty level with the ACA.
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Old 01-21-2015, 11:30 AM
 
Location: Tennessee
37,761 posts, read 40,866,320 times
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Guess what? The US Census Bureau defines poverty by income level. It doesn't adjust it for cost of living or state income tax. Everbody uses the Census Bureau numbers for their studies. I could do just fine here in Tennessee with the same amount of income on which New Yorkers barely scrape by.
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Old 01-21-2015, 05:06 PM
 
Location: Great State of Texas
86,052 posts, read 84,260,642 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FallsAngel View Post
Well, the economy is better now, so maybe down? OTOH, Medicaid has expanded since the ACA, so maybe up. Medicaid births are not a good marker for poverty in school; kids start school 5-6 years later, and continue for 13 years. Economic circumstances change. Eligibility for medicaid is not poverty level with the ACA.
Well the 50% figure was 2010...5 years later is now.

You also have the free/reduced stats hovering at around 50% as well.

All indicators point towards a growing poverty class attending public schools.
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Old 01-21-2015, 09:26 PM
 
12,883 posts, read 13,919,365 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LauraC View Post
Guess what? The US Census Bureau defines poverty by income level. It doesn't adjust it for cost of living or state income tax. Everbody uses the Census Bureau numbers for their studies. I could do just fine here in Tennessee with the same amount of income on which New Yorkers barely scrape by.
So the economic threshold is the same, yet New York is still doing better than Tennessee with fewer low-income students (as shown on the map) even though it's cheaper to live in TN, correct? NJ is also very very expensive and is still doing better than TN in this regard, same with Massachusetts and even New Hampshire. So while you may be able to afford more in TN with the same salary as us in these more expensive states, based on this study (and more economic studies looking at wealth, poverty, income, etc), these states still have less poverty than those states.

Most of the poverty in New York probably comes from New York City. Some bad poverty there, and some truly bad public schools. I went to college in NYC and many of my friends were education majors who had to student teach in some questionable neighborhoods… they had some interesting educational experiences. Schools lagged in helping students who should have been placed in special ed a year ago, they struggle with teaching numerous kids who don't know English and get nothing out of their lessons (kids whose parents certainly aren't helping them learn English at home!), they deal with kids coming into class saying their parents abuse them (sad more than anything), kids bring knives and sometimes drugs to school, etc. All true stories I heard from friends student teaching at certain NYC public schools. As good as NYC can be for NYS, it can also be very bad when it comes to poverty studies. It often skews NYS's results. Counties surrounding the city are amongst the wealthiest, best educated in the nation. The city itself has areas that can skew stats and make the whole state seem bad. This is probably true for various states, though - the largest city (or cities) throwing off results.
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Old 01-21-2015, 09:37 PM
 
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The data is misleading. The schools are dying to get as many students on free/reduced lunch as possible so they can get funds for their schools!!! Families that normally do not qualify are getting approved! I have seen this first-hand!
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Old 01-22-2015, 10:56 AM
 
13,252 posts, read 33,414,281 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CandyGal View Post
The data is misleading. The schools are dying to get as many students on free/reduced lunch as possible so they can get funds for their schools!!! Families that normally do not qualify are getting approved! I have seen this first-hand!
That's absolutely not the case in my area. It's a source of pride to have a very low Free/reduced lunch amount of kids. We opt out of title 1 funding because the rules to jump through the hoops is not worth the amount reimbursed.
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Old 01-25-2015, 03:01 PM
 
Location: A Yankee in northeast TN
15,997 posts, read 20,995,781 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JerseyGirl415 View Post
So the economic threshold is the same, yet New York is still doing better than Tennessee with fewer low-income students (as shown on the map) even though it's cheaper to live in TN, correct? NJ is also very very expensive and is still doing better than TN in this regard, same with Massachusetts and even New Hampshire. So while you may be able to afford more in TN with the same salary as us in these more expensive states, based on this study (and more economic studies looking at wealth, poverty, income, etc), these states still have less poverty than those states.
No, that's backwards. What we are trying to point out is that the gov't uses a flat standard to say who is poor and who is not, and they do NOT account for any discrepancy in COL. Wages are higher in northeastern states so you will find far fewer people at 'poverty level', so it follows that NY, NJ, etc. will have fewer 'low income' students as defined by the gov't.
That does not necessarily translate into better living circumstances for those above poverty level in northern states.

Poverty should not be defined by whether you make above or below a certain number of dollars, it NEEDS to take into consideration whether those dollars will buy you a basic standard of living.
Not being able to afford health or dental care, nutritious food, and adequate shelter is the same whether it's because you earn below poverty level 20k in podunk GA, or above poverty level 47K in NYC.

Don't be lulled into thinking that those gov't. numbers have anything to do with how many families are or aren't struggling to meet those basic standards, in any area of the country.
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Old 01-26-2015, 03:17 AM
 
12,547 posts, read 9,870,398 times
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Is it just me or do most of the states with the highest poverty levels also have the highest African American/Hispanic populations? I wonder what say MA's numbers would look like if it wasn't ~85% white.
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Old 01-26-2015, 08:25 AM
 
483 posts, read 667,852 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tnff View Post
Ah yes, it's beat on the south time again. it must be conservatives. It must be racism. Yea, that's it, it's the racist conservatives. Of course good old California is right in there as well. I don't think it follows the stereotypical southern belief system does it?

Any look at the deeper demographics of the problem? Until we can move the discussion past racism and liberal vs conservative anger, we cannot really look at the deeper issues that create this problem. Ya know what folks, racism isn't the problem. Teachers aren't the problem. More money for schools isn't the problem.

Absent fathers. Unwed mothers turning out children they can't raise. People who'd rather buy product made by basically slave labor overseas instead of paying for American made products. Parents who really don't give a rat's butt about education. Those are problems.

A hundred years ago, parents pushed for their children to get an education and no one blamed everything on poverty since so many lived in it. Rather they worked to learn and get out of it. Heck, I grew up in small town south where by today's standards, probably 90% of the town lived in "poverty" working in the mill for min wage (which contrary to today's argument, was for a lot more than kids flipping burgers) but our parents made dang sure we went to school, obeyed the teachers, and did our homework.
A hundred years ago graduation rate was less than 10 percent. Children in poverty did not go to school very long because they had to work, that is if they survived into adulthood at all. An poor people definitely do care about education, they don't have the knowledge base to get the help they need for their children, they don't have money for tutors, and they often go to school hungry. Their teeth may hurt because they can't get them fixed until next month and they may be going to school without their diabetes medicine, ADD medicine ect

Last edited by grilba; 01-26-2015 at 08:42 AM..
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Old 01-26-2015, 08:46 AM
 
483 posts, read 667,852 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eddiehaskell View Post
Is it just me or do most of the states with the highest poverty levels also have the highest African American/Hispanic populations? I wonder what say MA's numbers would look like if it wasn't ~85% white.
MA has plenty of poverty. Because the cost of living is so high, a truly poor family may earn just above the poverty line and not be counted. The cost of living is lower in the South so people tend to earn below the official poverty line more often. The real difference? Massachusetts puts tons of money into their educational system and also has universal health care and generous safety nets for the poor. Really, it works-other places should try it some time.
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