More on DoE Report of Kids in Poverty

Our faithful contributor G, always on top of his game, sent me email about the recent report from the state Department of Education that said “51.6 percent of all Alabama K-12 students are now classified as living in poverty” and that I mentioned here Saturday. He wanted to point out that the Department of Education uses different criteria for establishing poverty than what the Census Bureau uses – which is why the DOE reports poverty rates much higher than what the Census Bureau reports. The Dept. of Education counts children who are eligible for free or reduced lunches as being in poverty, and G adds that the DOE count “probably is a more accurate reflection of ‘poor’ kids.”