In public schools, one measure of the average economic class of
students attending a school is the percentage of students eligible for
"free and reduced meals" (also known as FARM.)  I have several
questions:
1.) What is the average FARM for K-4, 5-8 and 9-12 schools in the
United States?
2.) What has the trend been for the last 5 years?
3.) What are the statistics for the following areas:
    a. Chicago and Cook County, Illinois
    b. Austin TX and county
    c. Nashville and Davidson County, TN
    d. Cleveland Ohio and county
    e. Atlanta GA and county

---

Clarification of Question by blue_bna-ga on 15 Dec 2002 18:22 PST

To: hlabadie-ga

Your comments are quite good and I am willing to accept them as an
answer.  I may post a more focused question at another time.

The US Department of Education maintains a Web site for the National
Center for Education Statistics:

http://nces.ed.gov/

Unfortunately, several states, among them Tennessee, do not report the
numbers for eligible students, and there are lacunae in the data.


Here is what I have found.

  1.) What is the average FARM for K-4, 5-8 and 9-12 schools in the 
  United States? 

1993-1994 seems to be the only year for which breakdowns are
available. The same table appears from 1996 onward.


http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/digest2001/tables/dt375.asp

 Table 375.Public school students receiving federally funded free or
           reduced price lunches, by selected school characteristics:
           School year 1993-94

____________________________________________________________________
                       |Percent of students participating in program
          School       |____________________________________________
      characteristics  |   Total  |Elementary|Secondary |Combined\1\
_______________________|__________|__________|__________|___________
             1         |      2   |    3     |    4     |    5
_______________________|__________|__________|__________|___________
        Total .........|33.2 (0.5)|38.8 (0.7)|22.0 (0.4)|39.1  (1.7)
                       |__________|__________|__________|___________
Community type         |          |          |          |
Central city ..........|44.9 (1.0)|52.1 (1.3)|28.9 (0.9)|52.2  (3.0)
Urban fringe/large town|23.5 (0.9)|28.3 (1.4)|14.6 (0.6)|23.9  (3.8)
Rural/small town ......|32.2 (0.6)|36.3 (0.8)|23.0 (0.4)|39.9  (1.9)
                       |          |          |          |
School size (students) |          |          |          |
  Less than 150 .......|38.6 (1.3)|38.4 (1.9)|35.8 (1.5)|50.2  (2.4)
  150-299 .............|38.1 (0.9)|39.5 (1.2)|28.4 (1.1)|51.8  (4.9)
  300-499 .............|37.0 (0.9)|38.8 (1.0)|26.2 (1.1)|37.3  (2.6)
  500-749 .............|33.5 (0.9)|36.0 (1.0)|22.3 (0.7)|34.7  (2.2)
  750 or more .........|29.7 (0.9)|42.5 (1.8)|20.6 (0.5)|34.3  (3.2)
                       |          |          |          |
Minority students      |          |          |          |
  Less than 5% ........|22.0 (0.5)|24.4 (0.7)|17.0 (0.6)|28.6  (1.6)
  5 to 19% ............|18.9 (0.5)|22.2 (0.8)|11.7 (0.4)|30.6  (2.3)
  20 to 49% ...........|32.0 (0.7)|38.1 (1.0)|20.1 (0.4)|38.6  (5.0)
  50% or more .........|57.3 (1.1)|65.5 (1.2)|38.9 (1.0)|60.6  (3.2)
_______________________|__________|__________|__________|___________

 NOTE: Combined schools include schools beginning with grade 6 or
below and
 ending with grade 9 or above. Standard errors appear in parentheses.

 SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
 Statistics, "Schools and Staffing Survey, 1993-94." (This table was
 prepared June 1998.)


FY 1998, SY 1999-2000

Percentage of all students eligible for free or reduced price lunches
(of schools reporting): 38.9% (87.1% of schools did report)

FY 1999, SY 2000-2001
Percentage of all students eligible for free or reduced price lunches
(of schools reporting): 39.3% (86.1% of schools did report)

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/100_largest/discussion.asp
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/100_largest/discussion.asp#tableC

National Center for Education Statistics

100 Largest School Districts

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/100_largest/table_09_1.asp
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/100_largest/table_09_2.asp

Schools having membership: 15,465
Students eligible for free or reduced price lunches: 53.4% (90.1% of
schools reporting)

Percentage of students by race/ethnicity:
Hispanic                31.7%
White/non-Hispanic      31.4%
Black/non-Hispanic      29.4%
Asian/Pacific Isl.       6.8%
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.  0.5%

  2.) What has the trend been for the last 5 years? 


See above.

The trend from SY1993-1994 to SY2002-2002 is upward:

1993-1994 33.2%
1999-2000 38.9%
2000-2001 39.3%

  3.) What are the statistics for the following areas: 
      a. Chicago and Cook County, Illinois 
Total -- not reported
Hispanic                34.9%
White/non-Hispanic       9.6%
Black/non-Hispanic      52.4%
Asian/Pacific Isl.       3.3%
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.  0.2%

      b. Austin TX and county 
Total -- 46.4%
Hispanic                47.8%
White/non-Hispanic      33.7%
Black/non-Hispanic      15.7%
Asian/Pacific Isl.       2.5%
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.  0.3%

     c. Nashville and Davidson County, TN

Meals data not reported by Tennessee (see note below).

Tennessee 2000-2001 Enrollment

http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/asr0001/table8.pdf

Davidson County 78,869
State enrollment 984,015
Davidson County as percentage of state enrollment: 12.48

Student enrollment by Race/Ethnicity 1999

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001326r.pdf

Hispanic                 13,298
White/non-Hispanic      665,191
Black/non-Hispanic      222,860
Asian/Pacific Isl.       10,135
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.   1,388

Tennessee Enrollment Total 912,872

Federal Food Funds Received through state 2000-2001

http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/asr0001/table14.pdf 

Davidson County $12,054,807
State total $143,620,630

Dept. of Agriculture expenditures FY 2000

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/digest2001/tables/dt373.asp

Tennessee (in thousands of dollars)
total FY1999   187,436
total FY2000   197,077
      Milk          26
      Lunch    109,507
      Breakfast 30,179

Google searches led to the Tennessee state Department of Education Web
site:

http://www.state.tn.us/education/

Census2000 available at:

http://www.census.gov

Davidson County QuickFacts
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/47/47037.html

Persons below poverty, percent, 1999  13.0%

This is up from the estimates of 1998:

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe/stcty/a98_47.htm

All persons in poverty, Davidson County, 1998  11.9%

Population, 2000   569,891
Persons under 5 years old, percent, 2000  6.6%
Persons under 18 years old, percent, 2000 22.2%


See the eligibility chart at:

http://www.state.tn.us/education/nr020711c.htm
State Announces Free and Reduced Meal Guidelines for 2002-03 School
Year



      d. Cleveland Ohio and county 
Total -- 80.1%
Hispanic                 8.4%
White/non-Hispanic      19.3%
Black/non-Hispanic      71.3%
Asian/Pacific Isl.       0.7%
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.  0.3%

      e. Atlanta GA and county
Total -- 76.4%
Hispanic                 2.8%
White/non-Hispanic       6.8%
Black/non-Hispanic      89.5%
Asian/Pacific Isl.       0.9%
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.  0.1%

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/100_largest/table_09_1.asp
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/100_largest/table_09_2.asp

Note: "These percentages should be interpreted with caution; five
states (AZ, CT, IL, TN, and WA), DOD (overseas), DOD (domestic),
Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Virgin Islands did not report free
and reduced-price lunch eligibility and are not included in the
national total. Also, states may not have reported students eligible
for reduced-price meals, and a number of states reported participation
instead of eligibility data which may not be strictly comparable. See
Methodology section for further description. Percentages are based on
those schools that reported."

"The 100 largest districts, with 23 percent of the nation's public
school students, serve 40 percent of the 18.5 million minority public
school students. In the 100 largest school districts, 68 percent of
students are minority students compared to 40 percent of students
nationally (table C). In fact, one-third (33) of the 96 districts
where minority membership was available have over 75 percent minority
students. Eight of the 10 largest school districts have over 75
percent minority student membership (table 8)."


hlabadie-ga

This was very helpful.  I may refine my questions and post them later.

Your question is interesting, but problematic.

This is going to be a tough question to answer satisfactorily (menaing
that it may not get an answer). One problem is that the City of
Chicago School District did not report FARM statistics for 1999 -
2000. Another difficulty will be getting any meaningful data on a
county-wide basis because of the number of school districts involved
in many counties.

Researchers are understandaly loathe to spend hours looking for and
compiling information when, in the end, they will not be able to post
a suitable answer. May I suggest that you break your question into
smaller pieces and perhaps consider pricing it with the understanding
that this is probably not a trivial research effort.

As the data are incomplete, I am posting this as a comment, but if you
think that it is adequate I will make it an answer.



The US Department of Education maintains a Web site for the National
Center for Education Statistics:

http://nces.ed.gov/

Unfortunately, several states, among them Tennessee, do not report the
numbers for eligible students, and there are lacunae in the data.


Here is what I have found.

  1.) What is the average FARM for K-4, 5-8 and 9-12 schools in the 
  United States? 

1993-1994 seems to be the only year for which breakdowns are
available. The same table appears from 1996 onward.


http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/digest2001/tables/dt375.asp

 Table 375.Public school students receiving federally funded free or
           reduced price lunches, by selected school characteristics:
           School year 1993-94

________________________________________________________________________
                           |Percent of students participating in
program
          School          
|____________________________________________
      characteristics      |   Total  |Elementary|Secondary
|Combined\1\
___________________________|__________|__________|__________|___________
             1             |      2   |    3     |    4     |    5
___________________________|__________|__________|__________|___________
        Total .............|33.2 (0.5)|38.8 (0.7)|22.0 (0.4)|39.1 
(1.7)
                          
|__________|__________|__________|___________
Community type             |          |          |          |
  Central city ............|44.9 (1.0)|52.1 (1.3)|28.9 (0.9)|52.2 
(3.0)
  Urban fringe/large town .|23.5 (0.9)|28.3 (1.4)|14.6 (0.6)|23.9 
(3.8)
  Rural/small town ........|32.2 (0.6)|36.3 (0.8)|23.0 (0.4)|39.9 
(1.9)
                           |          |          |          |
School size (students)     |          |          |          |
  Less than 150 ...........|38.6 (1.3)|38.4 (1.9)|35.8 (1.5)|50.2 
(2.4)
  150-299 .................|38.1 (0.9)|39.5 (1.2)|28.4 (1.1)|51.8 
(4.9)
  300-499 .................|37.0 (0.9)|38.8 (1.0)|26.2 (1.1)|37.3 
(2.6)
  500-749 .................|33.5 (0.9)|36.0 (1.0)|22.3 (0.7)|34.7 
(2.2)
  750 or more .............|29.7 (0.9)|42.5 (1.8)|20.6 (0.5)|34.3 
(3.2)
                           |          |          |          |
Minority students          |          |          |          |
  Less than 5% ............|22.0 (0.5)|24.4 (0.7)|17.0 (0.6)|28.6 
(1.6)
  5 to 19% ................|18.9 (0.5)|22.2 (0.8)|11.7 (0.4)|30.6 
(2.3)
  20 to 49% ...............|32.0 (0.7)|38.1 (1.0)|20.1 (0.4)|38.6 
(5.0)
  50% or more .............|57.3 (1.1)|65.5 (1.2)|38.9 (1.0)|60.6 
(3.2)
___________________________|__________|__________|__________|___________

 NOTE: Combined schools include schools beginning with grade 6 or
below and
 ending with grade 9 or above. Standard errors appear in parentheses.

 SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
 Statistics, "Schools and Staffing Survey, 1993-94." (This table was
 prepared June 1998.)


FY 1998, SY 1999-2000

Percentage of all students eligible for free or reduced price lunches
(of schools reporting): 38.9% (87.1% of schools did report)

FY 1999, SY 2000-2001
Percentage of all students eligible for free or reduced price lunches
(of schools reporting): 39.3% (86.1% of schools did report)

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/100_largest/discussion.asp
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/100_largest/discussion.asp#tableC

National Center for Education Statistics

100 Largest School Districts

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/100_largest/table_09_1.asp
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/100_largest/table_09_2.asp

Schools having membership: 15,465
Students eligible for free or reduced price lunches: 53.4% (90.1% of
schools reporting)

Percentage of students by race/ethnicity:
Hispanic                31.7%
White/non-Hispanic      31.4%
Black/non-Hispanic      29.4%
Asian/Pacific Isl.       6.8%
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.  0.5%

  2.) What has the trend been for the last 5 years? 


See above.

The trend from SY1993-1994 to SY2002-2002 is upward:

1993-1994 33.2%
1999-2000 38.9%
2000-2001 39.3%

  3.) What are the statistics for the following areas: 
      a. Chicago and Cook County, Illinois 
Total -- not reported
Hispanic                34.9%
White/non-Hispanic       9.6%
Black/non-Hispanic      52.4%
Asian/Pacific Isl.       3.3%
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.  0.2%

      b. Austin TX and county 
Total -- 46.4%
Hispanic                47.8%
White/non-Hispanic      33.7%
Black/non-Hispanic      15.7%
Asian/Pacific Isl.       2.5%
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.  0.3%

     c. Nashville and Davidson County, TN

Meals data not reported by Tennessee (see note below).

Tennessee 2000-2001 Enrollment

http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/asr0001/table8.pdf

Davidson County 78,869
State enrollment 984,015
Davidson County as percentage of state enrollment: 12.48

Student enrollment by Race/Ethnicity 1999

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001326r.pdf

Hispanic                 13,298
White/non-Hispanic      665,191
Black/non-Hispanic      222,860
Asian/Pacific Isl.       10,135
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.   1,388

Tennessee Enrollment Total 912,872

Federal Food Funds Received through state 2000-2001

http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/asr0001/table14.pdf 

Davidson County $12,054,807
State total $143,620,630

Dept. of Agriculture expenditures FY 2000

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/digest2001/tables/dt373.asp

Tennessee (in thousands of dollars)
total FY1999   187,436
total FY2000   197,077
      Milk          26
      Lunch    109,507
      Breakfast 30,179

Google searches led to the Tennessee state Department of Education Web
site:

http://www.state.tn.us/education/

Census2000 available at:

http://www.census.gov

Davidson County QuickFacts
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/47/47037.html

Persons below poverty, percent, 1999  13.0%

This is up from the estimates of 1998:

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe/stcty/a98_47.htm

All persons in poverty, Davidson County, 1998  11.9%

Population, 2000   569,891
Persons under 5 years old, percent, 2000  6.6%
Persons under 18 years old, percent, 2000 22.2%


See the eligibility chart at:

http://www.state.tn.us/education/nr020711c.htm
State Announces Free and Reduced Meal Guidelines for 2002-03 School
Year



      d. Cleveland Ohio and county 
Total -- 80.1%
Hispanic                 8.4%
White/non-Hispanic      19.3%
Black/non-Hispanic      71.3%
Asian/Pacific Isl.       0.7%
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.  0.3%

      e. Atlanta GA and county
Total -- 76.4%
Hispanic                 2.8%
White/non-Hispanic       6.8%
Black/non-Hispanic      89.5%
Asian/Pacific Isl.       0.9%
Amer. Ind./Alaskan Nat.  0.1%

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/100_largest/table_09_1.asp
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/100_largest/table_09_2.asp

Note: "These percentages should be interpreted with caution; five
states (AZ, CT, IL, TN, and WA), DOD (overseas), DOD (domestic),
Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Virgin Islands did not report free
and reduced-price lunch eligibility and are not included in the
national total. Also, states may not have reported students eligible
for reduced-price meals, and a number of states reported participation
instead of eligibility data which may not be strictly comparable. See
Methodology section for further description. Percentages are based on
those schools that reported."

"The 100 largest districts, with 23 percent of the nation's public
school students, serve 40 percent of the 18.5 million minority public
school students. In the 100 largest school districts, 68 percent of
students are minority students compared to 40 percent of students
nationally (table C). In fact, one-third (33) of the 96 districts
where minority membership was available have over 75 percent minority
students. Eight of the 10 largest school districts have over 75
percent minority student membership (table 8)."


hlabadie-ga