Rise In Free School Lunches Reflects Hard Economic Times

In a front-page article, the New York Times (11/30, A1, Dillon, Subscription Publication) reports, "Millions of American schoolchildren are receiving free or low-cost meals for the first time" after their parents lost jobs or homes due to the economic downturn. "The number of students receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million last school year from 18 million in 2006-7." Department of Education officials using subsidized lunch rates as a poverty indicator in federal testing were "among the first to call attention to the increases," noting in the National Assessment of Educational Progress "that the proportion of the nation's fourth graders enrolled in the lunch program had climbed to 52 percent from 49 percent in 2009, crossing a symbolic watershed."