POVERTY STRIKING WV CHILDREN RATED AMONG WORST IN US

(12/08/2003)

West Virginia still clings to being among the worst states with poverty among children. The US Census Bureau revealed coal-burning furnaces may have been practical in the one-room schoolhouses of yesteryear, but they don't do much for the 15 McDowell County schools that still depend on them for heat. The Census Bureau estimates that 40 percent of the county's school-age children in 2000 lived in poverty. That's the worst among West Virginia's 55 counties. Eighty percent or more of McDowell County students qualify for reduced or free lunches for poor children. There are signs of improvement. The Census estimates also show that McDowell County's suffered a 57 percent poverty rate among its children ages five to 17 in 1995. The drop between then and 2000 was one of the sharpest in the state. West Virginia remains in fourth place for the largest percentage of school-age children in poverty in the nation. Worse - Washington, DC, New Mexico, Mississippi and Louisiana. Calhoun is among the ten worst counties.

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