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WASHINGTON -- Three quarters of Mississippi public school students now come from low-income families, the Southern Education Foundation reported Tuesday.
Steve Suitts, the study's author, blamed Hurricane Katrina in part for the spike in low-income students in Mississippi -- up from 63 percent in 2000 -- but he said poor students are now the majority in most Southern states.
"For the first time in more than 40 years, the South is the only region in the nation where low-income children constitute a majority of public school students - 54 percent," the report said.
That's up from 46 percent in 2000.
"This is the most profound challenge to the South's economic future," Suitts said.
Low-income students tend to do poorly in school, make up a large percentage of high school drop outs and don't go to college, he said. Yet the economy depends on a highly educated workforce.
The percentage of low-income students from kindergarten through high school is up nationwide. In the 2006-2007 school year, 36 percent of students in both the Midwest and Northeast came from poor families. In the West, it was 47 percent.
In 2000, Mississippi had the highest percentage of low-income students in the nation. But the devastation of Katrina hit Louisiana even harder than Mississippi, driving the percentage of its poor students to 84 percent.
The report defines low-income students as those who come from families who earn up to 185 percent of the official poverty level. For a family of three, that's less than $32,000 a year. The South comprises 15 states from Virginia to Oklahoma and Texas.
The report, by the 140-year-old foundation that promotes fairness and excellence in Southern education, attributes the rise in the South to four factors:
* Economic upheaval in mainstay industries - mining, textile, tobacco and furniture;
* An increase in immigrants from impoverished countries -- especially to Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina;
* High birth rates among low-income black and Latino families;
* High regional poverty levels that persist despite Sun Belt development and anti-poverty programs.
Southern states as a whole spend less per pupil than other regions, the report said, and provide the least educational resources to low-income students. Not only do low-income students lag far behind their wealthier peers in the South, it said, but they also lag far behind other low-income students in the rest of the country.
"We have to figure out how to educate low-income kids if Southern states are going to have educated adults who can get prosperous jobs," Suitts said.
Steve Suitts, the study's author, blamed Hurricane Katrina in part for the spike in low-income students in Mississippi -- up from 63 percent in 2000 -- but he said poor students are now the majority in most Southern states.
"For the first time in more than 40 years, the South is the only region in the nation where low-income children constitute a majority of public school students - 54 percent," the report said.
That's up from 46 percent in 2000.
"This is the most profound challenge to the South's economic future," Suitts said.
Low-income students tend to do poorly in school, make up a large percentage of high school drop outs and don't go to college, he said. Yet the economy depends on a highly educated workforce.
The percentage of low-income students from kindergarten through high school is up nationwide. In the 2006-2007 school year, 36 percent of students in both the Midwest and Northeast came from poor families. In the West, it was 47 percent.
In 2000, Mississippi had the highest percentage of low-income students in the nation. But the devastation of Katrina hit Louisiana even harder than Mississippi, driving the percentage of its poor students to 84 percent.
The report defines low-income students as those who come from families who earn up to 185 percent of the official poverty level. For a family of three, that's less than $32,000 a year. The South comprises 15 states from Virginia to Oklahoma and Texas.
The report, by the 140-year-old foundation that promotes fairness and excellence in Southern education, attributes the rise in the South to four factors:
* Economic upheaval in mainstay industries - mining, textile, tobacco and furniture;
* An increase in immigrants from impoverished countries -- especially to Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina;
* High birth rates among low-income black and Latino families;
* High regional poverty levels that persist despite Sun Belt development and anti-poverty programs.
Southern states as a whole spend less per pupil than other regions, the report said, and provide the least educational resources to low-income students. Not only do low-income students lag far behind their wealthier peers in the South, it said, but they also lag far behind other low-income students in the rest of the country.
"We have to figure out how to educate low-income kids if Southern states are going to have educated adults who can get prosperous jobs," Suitts said.