Detroit Schools See 100% Increase In Poor Students

Kids are showing up to school hungry with no school supplies

It's hard to listen to your teacher when the grumble from you stomach is drowning them out and school children in Detroit are experiencing that everyday.

Detroit Free Press reports:

More of the children attending schools in metro Detroit are living in poverty, a trend pronounced not just in urban areas but also in some of the tri-county's wealthier areas. Between 2006 and 2010 -- a period marked by a recession that rocked Michigan more than most states -- 19 school districts in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties saw increases of more than 100% in the number of poor children.

Some of it can be tied to low-income families moving into wealthier districts as they look for better schools. But mostly, school officials say, it's homegrown, with local parents falling into poverty after losing jobs or dealing with pay cuts.

It's become a common plight across metro Detroit as the sons and daughters of newly poor families increasingly face school life in need. In addition to being eligible for subsidized lunch -- a commonly used gauge of poverty in schools -- more students are arriving to school hungry, without proper supplies and unable to pay mandatory school fees.

Some of the increase in wealthier districts is from already poor families moving into the area in search of better schools.

This news comes after we've already seen all Detroit schoolchildren get free lunch and all schools have metal detectors installed.