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U.S. Census figures for Luzerne County 1999-2008

November 19, 2009

Ranks of poor kids grow in all area school districts

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com
Education Reporter
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The percentage of school-age children living in poverty in Luzerne County has increased in every district since 1999, according to new U.S. Census estimates, with the biggest increase in Hanover Area, where it rose from 19.3 percent to 24.4 percent.

The bad news doesn’t end at Luzerne County’s borders. The percentage of children ages 5 to 17 living in poverty has increased in every district in Lackawanna and Wyoming counties as well.

In 1999, only one district in the three-county area had more than 20 percent of children ages 5-17 in poverty. Now, six districts meet that mark.

On the other end of the spectrum, in 1999 there were eight districts with poverty rates below 10 percent. Now there are only four.

In raw numbers, the census estimates show the number of school-age students declining in Luzerne County school districts from 51,505 in 1999 to 45,794 in 2008, yet the number of those living in poverty rose from 6,303 to 7,545.

In the three-county area, the number estimated in that age group dropped by more than 10,000, yet the number in poverty rose by more than 2,000.

The 2008 data released Wednesday was from the Census Bureau’s “Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates.” The Times Leader compared it to data from 1999, available on the same Web site.

The percentages are not the same as the “low-income” data provided annually by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which uses different sources to tabulate the percentage of total district and school enrollment that comes from low-income families. The state numbers, as a rule, are noticeably higher than those released by the Census Bureau on Wednesday.

Specifically, the Census Bureau estimates the “number of relevant children 5 to 17 years old in poverty who are related to the householder.” The bureau also notes the methodology used in making the annual estimates has changed, meaning comparisons across years may not be fully valid.

Still the changes are consistent, with increases in poverty in each of the 23 districts in three counties.

The Luzerne County districts with the smallest percentage of school-age students in poverty are Dallas, where the percent of school-age children rose from 5.6 percent to 6.9 percent, and Crestwood, where the growth went from 3.8 percent to 5.9 percent.

In the three-county area, Riverside School District had the highest percentage of school-age children in poverty in 2008, 25.9 percent, followed by Hanover Area at 24.4 percent, Carbondale Area at 24.2 percent, Scranton at 22.9 percent, Greater Nanticoke Area at 21.3 percent, and Wilkes-Barre Area at 20.4 percent.

Hazleton Area fell just under the 20 percent mark at 19.5 percent.

Old Forge School District had the largest change, climbing from 4.7 percent to 13.6 percent, while Hazleton had the second biggest jump, from 11.3 percent to 19.5 percent. All other districts saw increases below 6 percentage points.

Statewide, the Census Bureau estimates 15.1 percent of children ages 5 to 17 lived in poverty in 2008, up from 12.8 percent in 1999.

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