By Brendan Hoover
Managing Editor

The low-income student population in Mustang Public Schools is rising, officials reported recently.

The number of students who enrolled in the district’s free and reduced meal program this school year increased by 350 over the 2008-09 school year, Child Nutrition Director Tammy Bales said Thursday.

“We’ve definitely seen an increase,” Bales said.

Of the increase, about 150 of the new enrollees are income-related, where a parent may have lost his or her job, Bales said.

Another 100 applications were turned in by families who already participate in the state’s food stamp program, called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and 100 more families were signed up by cross-referencing school records with lists of people who qualify for state aid.

According to data provided by the Oklahoma State Department of Education, nearly one-third of the Mustang school district’s total enrollment is eligible to receive free or reduced-priced meals.

The figures were taken from Mustang’s enrollment records on Oct. 1. Out of 8,607 total students who attend Mustang schools, 2,855 students, or 33.17 percent, are eligible to participate in the program.

Bales said the rise is chiefly due to the national recession.

“I do talk to quite a few parents. They’ll call in and ask me questions when they’re filling out their applications, and many of them have lost one of the incomes out of the household,” she said.

Mustang Centennial Elementary has the highest ratio of low-income students, at 45.57 percent of its total enrollment. At Mustang Elementary, 41.58 percent of students are eligible for the free and reduced meal program.

At the secondary level, Mustang North Middle School had the highest percentage of low-income students, at 38.63 percent.

Mustang High School had 466 out of 1,717 students eligible for the program, a 27.14 percentage.

Mustang’s totals are lower than most other Canadian County districts. El Reno was the highest, with 81.29 percent of its population considered low-income. A total of 34.17 percent of Yukon’s student are eligible for the program, and 52.65 percent of Union City’s student can receive free or reduced-priced meals. In Calumet, 38.69 percent of students are considered low-income.

Piedmont had the lowest percentage in the county, with only 16.06 percent of its students considered low-income.

The free and reduced meal program helps ensure that children of low-income families can enjoy nutritious meals while at school. The federal government reimburses districts for much of the cost to administer the program, with the state providing partial matching funds, Bales said.

Nearly every Mustang Public Schools site also offers a breakfast program, which began this year, she said.

With the unemployment rate up across the state, school officials worked hard this year to find every single child who was eligible to participate in the program, Bales said.

 “This year we really hit it extra hard,” she said. We also had principals and counselors somewhat involved in trying to reach parents.”

The full price for breakfast is $1.30 across the district. Lunch costs $1.90 at elementary schools, $2.10 at middle schools and $2.30 at the high school level. Reduced-price charges are $.30 for breakfast and $.40 for lunch.

At Mustang, the eligibility scale for reduced-price meals is based on 185 percent of the poverty level. For example, a household of four would have to earn $40,793 or less per year to qualify.

Statewide, the student poverty rate more than doubled this year over last, according to a report released Feb. 15 by the State Department of Education. The SDE’s 2009-2010 low income report indicates the poverty rate among public school students is now 58.88 percent – up by more than two percent from last year’s rate of 56.25 percent, State Superintendent Sandy Garrett said in a news release.

“We anticipated the downturn in our national and state economies would results in higher student poverty this school year, and it definitely has,” Garrett said. “This creates a higher demand for such services as free and reduced priced meals.”

According to the report, nearly 322,000 students, or 49.19 percent of the total public student population in Oklahoma, are eligible to receive free school meals. More than 63,000 students, or nearly 9.69 percent of the total student population, are eligible to receive reduced priced school meals.