12% of State Children Live in Poverty

About 12% of Wisconsin school children lived in poverty in 1997, according to a new U.S. Census study.

The report found 124,345 children in poverty in 1997, or 12%. That is the same percentage as 1995.

Nationally, 18.4% of school-age children lived in poverty in 1997.

Districts with the highest poverty rates were Lac du Flambeau (50.9%), Menominee Indian (33.5%) and Milwaukee (32%)

The lowest poverty rates were generally in the Milwaukee suburbs: Franklin (0.5%), Maple Dale/Indian Hills (0.7%), and Whitefish Bay (0.9%).

"This report drives home the disparities between communities," WEAC President Terry Craney said. "Many of the districts with the highest rates of children in poverty are districts hardest-hit by revenue controls and inequities in the state system of funding schools."

Craney said high poverty rates affect education.

"Children need to go to school prepared to learn," he said. "It is unconscionable that a state like Wisconsin would have so many children living in poverty. Wisconsin must dedicate resources needed to help these children get out of poverty and succeed in life."

For more on the report, go to:
www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2000/cb00-204.html

Posted December 5, 2000