INSTITUTE INDEX: The worsening poverty crisis in the South's public schools

Number of states in which the majority of public school children were low income in 2011, meaning they were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches: 17

Of those 17 states, number in the South*: 12

Percent of public school children in the South who are low income: 53

Percent in the West, Midwest and Northeast, respectively: 50, 44, 40

Percent in the United States overall: 48

Percentage points by which that number increased since 2001: 10

Percent of public school children who are low income in Mississippi, the state with the highest proportion: 71

Percent in Louisiana, the state with the third-highest proportion after second-place New Mexico: 66

Percent of public school children who are low income in Virginia, the only Southern state below 50 percent: 37

Year in which low income children became the majority of students in the South's public schools: 2007

Portion by which the number of public school children who are low income grew in the South from 2001 to 2011: 1/3

Portion of African-American and Hispanic students who attend U.S. public schools where a majority of their classmates are low income: 2/3

Percent of public school children in U.S. cities, towns, rural areas and suburbs, respectively, who are low income: 60, 52, 44, 40

In Mississippi cities, towns, rural areas and suburbs: 83, 78, 71, 57

Year since there has been consistent growth in the rate of low income students in most U.S. states and regions: 1989

From 2001 to 2011, percent by which the numbers of low income students in U.S. public schools grew: 32

Percent by which the U.S. average per-pupil expenditure for public education increased between 2001 and 2011: 14

Percent by which it increased in the South: 12

Average amount public schools spend annually per student in the Northeast: $16,045

In the South: $9,300

Gap in scores between the South's lower and higher income students on the National Assessment for Educational Progress' fourth-grade reading test: 26

Year since that gap has held steady: 2003

Difference in that gap between public and private schools, which are often cited as a solution to the problem of low income student underachievement by school choice proponents: 0

* Facing South counts 13 states as part of the South: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

(All of the figures in this index come from "A New Majority: Low Income Students in the South and Nation" by the Southern Education Foundation, October 2013.)