25% of City School Children Live in Poverty

According to a report from the U. S. Census Bureau, the prosperity enjoyed by most in Lancaster County has not percolated down to our school children.

In Lancaster City alone, approximately 4,000 youngsters suffer from poverty. And suburban and exurban districts also have significant pockets of poverty with rates of 1 out of 6 in Columbia and 1 out of 7 in Pequea, Solanco and Eastern Lancaster County.

In contrast, poverty rates for school children from Warwick and Hempfield are 1 in 20.

Hungry children find it hard to concentrate and usually do not have nutritious diets. School breakfast and lunch programs help to ameliorate the situation, but food quality in City schools reportedly is not as good as elsewhere.

NewsLanc plans to report on the comparative funds available, cost and quality of food provided by the School District of Lancaster and others in the near future.