Boston.com / News / Census

Child poverty steady in city

Boston rises to 13th among major districts

By Megan Tench, Globe Staff, 12/28/2002

hile many big cities have managed to cut down on the number of school-age children living in poverty, Boston has risen from 29th to 13th among the nation's poorest school districts, largely because its child poverty rate has remained the same, according to data released by the US Census Bureau yesterday.

CENSUS DATA

Chart: Poverty rates in 100 largest US school districts

Chart: Poverty rates in Mass. school districts

Figures on child poverty rates broken down by school district showed that among the largest 100 school districts in the nation, Boston's ranked 13th in 1999, the latest date data were collected. Boston had ranked 29th in 1995. (Census numbers were calculated and ranked by the Globe.)

Boston's actual number of poor school-age children remained the same - about 25,000 - through those four years, but other larger urban school districts such as Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia did a better job of cutting poverty rates, census figures showed. For example, even with a school population increase of about 4,000, the number of children living in poverty in Washington decreased from 25,700 in 1995 to 22,906 in 1999. In Phildelphia, which saw a population increase of about 15,000, the number of poor children dropped from 95,000 in 1995 to 68,005 in 1999.

Boston officials attributed the steady poverty rate to the boom in the city's immigrant population and said it reflects the city's increasing diversity.

''The 25,000 low-income children in 1995 are certainly not the same 25,000 in 1999,'' said Carole Brennan, spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino. ''There's a cycle here. Lower-income families are coming to the city, making it their home base and making progress at a daily, monthly, yearly rate, and then they get out of the city.''

Boston figures showed that about one-third of school-age children living in the city in 1999 and 1995 were living below the poverty line - which varies according to the number of adults and children per household. For a household made up of two adults and two children, for example, that meant earning less than $17,463 in 1999.

Child-poverty rate figures by district are used to help the government allocate Title I funds that pay for programs to enhance the education of low-income students, census officials said.

Although the city received $38.7 million in Title I money for the 2002-2003 school year, some observers fear that given Boston's present fiscal woes - including a $65 million shortfall in the school budget - many programs that serve low-income children will be slashed. Feeling the pressures of a tight budget, city officials earlier this month warned of the possibility of teacher layoffs as the state tries to overcome an estimated budget gap of at least $2 billion.

''The numbers show we've not made any progress overcoming the poverty in our school system as a society,'' said John Mudd, policy director for Massachusetts Advocates for Children. ''The schools are facing a serious challenge which requires serious funding.''

The number of students living in poverty presents the district with one of its greatest challenges in improving education, acknowledged Jonathan Palumbo, a Boston public schools spokesman.

Although many schools offer a number of programs, such as breakfast, free and reduced lunch, and afterschool programs, to help cope with the lack of resources available to low-income students, Palumbo said, given the district's budget shortfall, many of these additional programs may be eliminated.

''The budget situation can have an impact beyond the 61/2-hour school day,'' Palumbo said.

Many of the district's low-income students don't have access to resources like home computers, Palumbo said, and are often forced to take on household responsibilities, which can take away from their studies.

''It is our responsibility as educators to make sure all of our students are getting the same opportunities during the school day,'' he said.

''We obviously can't control what happens outside of school, and that certainly plays a role in how students perform during the school day. Obviously it's going to be a challenge.''

With a budget crisis looming, Brennan said there's little doubt that cuts to some programs geared toward low-income families are almost inevitable.

''If we have 10 kids at the poverty level in this city, obviously we are concerned about that,'' she said, adding that there are several privately funded programs to help low-income residents.

''This coming year is going to be a very difficult one,'' said Brennan. ''I have to be confident that with hard work, and a little bit of patience, they can move on.''

Holyoke and Lawrence remain the districts with the highest percentage of students living in poverty. Other Massachusetts districts experiencing major increases in poverty rates include: North Adams, which is up from 18 percent in 1995 to 36 percent in 1999; Easthampton, up from 4 percent in 1995 to 19 percent in 1999; and West Springfield, up from 13 percent in 1995 to 22 percent in 1999.