Schools

Rise in Child Poverty Affects Bottom Line, States of Mind

Though well above county levels, Riverhead child poverty remains below state and national levels.

Recent data released by the United States Census Bureau shows an increase in child poverty in recent years in the Riverhead Central School District. While the percentage of children ages 5-17 in the district has remained well below state and national levels, the percentage of 5-17 year-olds living in poverty has recently hovered over one-and-a-half times the county average.

In 2009, 11.7 percent of students in the RCSD lived below the poverty level, compared to 7 percent countywide and over 18 percent on state and national levels. According to the census, the poverty level for a family of four in 2009 was $21,954.

The increase in poverty, coupled with occasional decrees from Albany which carry no financial aid - commonly known as 'unfunded mandates' - has created added strain on school districts in recent years. With less money at home to buy lunch on their own, more families have taken advantage of free and reduced lunches in the district. And with increased poverty levels on the rise nationwide - 18.2 percent of students age 5-17 were living in poverty in 2009, compared to 16.4 percent in 2008 - demand for federal education funds has grown as well.

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"As the state continues to give unfunded mandates, it becomes a very difficult balancing act," said Ann Cotten-DeGrasse, president of the Riverhead Board of Education. "Poverty is obviously a big part of your attitude or success in school. If you don't have the resources the average kid has, that becomes somewhat a problem since you may need more remediation than the average kid. Now the district has to come up with more funds for that."

 

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Poverty Rates, Children Ages 5-17, By Region and Year

Riverhead Central S.D.

Suffolk County New York U.S. 2009 11.7% 7% 18.8% 18.2% 2008 10.5% 6% 18.3% 16.5% 2007 9.9% 5.7% 18.3% 16.4% 2006* 13.9% 8% 19% 16.7% 2005 10.3% 6% 18.6%

17%

*Levels for 2006 may have seen a spike due to changes in the way the data was handled.

 

In addition to additional in-classroom services, RCSD has found itself providing more meals to students because of a lack of funds at home. School Lunch Manager Karen Ball, at a November School Board Meeting, said that in the 2009-2010 school year, 47 percent of students took advantage of the free and reduced lunch program, up from 38 percent the year before.

Ball said that the average lunch costs $2.71 to prepare and serve. She added that the district receives $2.78 for a reduced price lunch, and $2.79 for a free meal. According to the National School Lunch Program, children from a family with income at or below 130 percent of the poverty level are eligible for free meals. Children whose families fall within 130 and 185 percent of the poverty level are eligible for reduced lunches.

The result has been a battle, as DeGrasse said, to find ways to cut costs to deal with the challenges facing school districts. According to Superintendent Nancy Carney, the increase in poverty has affected the students in such a way that the school has had to adapt.

"It affects the social/emotional well being of kids and families," Carney said of the increased poverty, which she has noticed herself in her six years in the school district. "One thing we have seen is that more kids are requiring more support - social/economical support."

According to school budget data, the 'psychological services' line item had been reduced to as little as $67,000 in the 2008-2009 school year. The 2010-2011 budget, however, contains $597,674 in the same line item.

"Schools are a safety net to a lot of kids," Carney said. "Our faculty and staff work very hard to have the kids well fed and secure in order ot learn. You have to have the tools, just like we all do."

Gary Bixhorn, chief operating officer with Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), said more districts haven't necessarily sought out the shared services model BOCES offers school districts to lower costs. However, the choice of programs BOCES has offered has expanded to cater to rising district costs. Currently, Eastern Suffolk BOCES has 51 school districts as customers.

"In terms of volume, the array of services we offer has grown over the last five years," Bixhorn said. "We are doing a lot of things differently. For example, we now offer regional summer school programs rather than in one location.

"People are analyzing expansion of sharing some services," he continued. "As times get tougher, people get more of a necessity to identify creative ways to cut costs. And I think we'll be getting more calls for assistance."

Bixhorn added that the way the current state educational aid formula is designed, Long Island as a whole, and Riverhead in particular, loses out because "property wealth overpowers income." In other words, while incomes may be low and poverty may be on the rise in Riverhead compared to the rest of the region, the amount of aid may not increase because of the high property values.

Riverhead Central School District did indeed receive nearly $170,000 in federal 'Race to the Top' funds, at least enough to plug over $30,000 lost offering free and reduced meals.

The data consulted is a result of Small Area and Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE), a mix of information gathered through the Census Bureau and American Community Survey.


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