The percentage of students receiving subsidized school lunches hasn't budged for four years, indicating that poverty persists for Ohio children and raising doubt about the state's economic recovery. More than 800,000 kids - 44 percent of students - are enrolled this school year in the federal free and reduced-price lunch program for low-income families, according to data provided by the Ohio Department of Education.

The percentage of students receiving subsidized school lunches hasn�t budged for four years, indicating that poverty persists for Ohio children and raising doubt about the state�s economic recovery.

More than 800,000 kids � 44 percent of students � are enrolled this school year in the federal free and reduced-price lunch program for low-income families, according to data provided by the Ohio Department of Education.

�We still have a real problem in Ohio,� said Renuka Mayadev, executive director of the Children�s Defense Fund-Ohio. �Almost half of our children are on free and reduced lunch in our state and that is signaling a lot of need.�

The rate has not changed since the 2010-11 school year, and has soared from a decade ago when a third of students relied on the program.

�Clearly, this creates a challenge for education in Ohio as poverty is so strongly correlated with student achievement,� said Howard Fleeter, of the Education Tax Policy Institute.

When families are struggling financially, it often creates stress and worry with parents busy looking for a job or figuring out how to pay the bills and with less time to spend with their children or help with homework.

�There is a lot more scrambling. Education is much more a part of a family the higher the income,� said Phil Cole, executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies.

�Also, a lot of times kids are coming to school hungry or going to bed hungry and it makes learning more difficult.�

Free lunches, and breakfasts where offered, are available to children in families with annual incomes less than 130 percent of the federal poverty level, or up to $25,727 a year for a family of three. Reduced-price meals are available to students with household incomes up to 185 percent of poverty, $36,611 a year for a family of three.

Because it is based on actual enrollment rather than an estimate, the participation rate is considered one of the best measures of the economic well-being of families with school-age children.

Ohio�s high and stagnant rate of students on the lunch program underscores �how slow the recovery has been from the 2009 recession, especially for those with lower incomes,� Fleeter said.

�This phenomenon is also evident when other data � median income, per capita income, the poverty rate, and labor force participation rates � are looked at. The only economic indicator that has shown noticeable improvement since the recession is the unemployment rate, but it is becoming more and more clear that this is due more to people dropping out of the labor force than to more people finding employment.�

Advocates for the poor say the latest school-lunch numbers signal a need to �double-down� on efforts to reduce poverty.

�If we�re serious about education reform, then maybe one of the planks would be to go to universal lunch and breakfast program for all children,� said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks.

Many schools are now serving breakfast, also available free or at reduced cost to qualifying students, and some have established summer meal programs to feed children when they aren�t in school.

In Franklin County, school-lunch enrollment held steady in most districts this year with a few exceptions. Worthington�s rate fell to 25 percent, down from 32 percent last year, with a slight increase in student enrollment. District officials couldn�t explain the drop but said there does not appear to be less need.

Like several Columbus-area districts, Worthington also serves breakfast.

�Students that eat breakfast, whether it�s at home or school, are better focused,� said Becky Dunn, food service coordinator for Worthington schools. �We have hot breakfast some days and cereal others. It wasn�t hard to add.�

ccandisky@dispatch.com

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