Poor, Minority Pupils Are Now a Majority in South

Education Week
Published Online: January 19, 2010
Published in Print: January 20, 2010, as Public Schools in South Said First With Both Poor, Minority Majority

The region's demographic shift foreshadows a national trend, report says.
By Debra Viadero

The South hit a demographic turning point over the past couple of years, becoming the first U.S. region in which both low-income and minority students constitute a majority of public school enrollment, an Atlanta-based advocacy group says.
In a report released this month, the Southern Education Foundation says the demographic shift was fueled by a combination of factors: an influx of Latinos and members of other ethnic groups, a return of many African-American families to the South, and higher birthrates among both blacks and Latinos than among whites.
Children from families poor enough to qualify for the federally subsidized school meals program have made up a majority of public school enrollment since 2007, according to the foundation. ("South’s Schools Pass Milestone on Poverty," Nov. 7, 2007.)
But the shift in the proportion of minority schoolchildren is more recent. Depending on how multiracial children are counted, children from traditional minority groups became the majority enrollment in either 2008 or 2009, according to Steve Suitts, the report’s main author.

Full Story: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/20/18south.h29.html