Nearly four in 10 Wisconsin elementary students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch last school year, and the proportion of low-income elementary students has climbed every year of this decade, according to state Department of Public Instruction data analyzed by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

The Center found the proportion of Wisconsin elementary students eligible for subsidized lunches hit 37.6 percent last year, compared to 30.3 percent in 2000.

The proportion of low-income students doubled or more than doubled in 47 of 411 public school districts during the period, reflecting the toll of the worsening economy and what some experts call a growing threat to education in Wisconsin.

Green Bay has the state's fifth-largest school district, but its low-income population grew by 2,398 elementary students, representing the largest gain of any school system. Districts in Madison and Kenosha also added more low-income elementary students in the past nine years than Milwaukee, Wisconsin's largest school district.

More than 90 percent of the growth in the low-income elementary student population since 2000 occurred outside of Milwaukee, the Center's analysis found.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers, the state's top education official, said he expects the number of low-income students, which last year included more than 160,000 elementary students and an additional 132,000 in higher grade levels, will continue to grow for another year or two. Job losses in Wisconsin have led to a near doubling in the past year of the statewide unemployment rate, now at an estimated 8.7 percent.

The expansion of low-income student populations comes at a time when districts across Wisconsin are facing a 3 percent overall cut in general state aid, and sharper cuts in some schools, which may force leaders to reduce services and increase class sizes. Yet low-income students often need more attention in school to compensate for a lack of academic support and distractions caused by financial problems at home, national research has shown.

"Children who come from impoverished backgrounds, especially if they become poor because their parents are losing their jobs ... that creates more stress on a family, more dysfunction in a family," Evers said. "Sometimes in these economic times the schools are the best refuges ... it's one of the places where we need to make sure we nurture kids well when their families are hurt by job loss."

Although free and reduced school lunch enrollment is frequently used to gauge the size of low-income student populations, experts caution that many things influence that number, including how aggressively schools recruit students for the program and the stigma often associated with receiving assistance. That stigma is less prevalent among younger children, experts say, so the Center based its analysis on subsidized-lunch enrollment in the lower grades in the 411 districts and 12 Milwaukee charter schools with elementary students.

Marge Hallenbeck, principal of Rock River Charter School and director of at-risk student programs for the Janesville schools, said the district applies for charitable grants to fund social services. It also has begun after-school community centers in schools with high numbers of low-income students.

"We're looking to new ways to do that kind of supporting. We've got to become more creative and innovative to meet those needs." Hallenbeck said.

This school year, a household of four earning $28,665 or less would qualify for free lunch. Families earning $40,793 or less qualify for reduced-price lunch.

In the Green Bay School District, the proportion of students in the subsidized lunch program was up by half since 2000, and included 56.9 percent of elementary students.

Alison Draheim, coordinator of at-risk programs who works with low-income families in the Green Bay district, said she also believes school can be a refuge for children from impoverished families. But there are some problems schools can't fix.

"It's hard to focus on algebra when you're hungry," Draheim said. "It impacts children socially, emotionally, which always has an impact on their academics."

The National School Lunch Program provided $114.4 million in subsidies and $25 million in food for lunches at public and private schools in Wisconsin during the 2007-08 school year, the most recent period for which figures are available.

To see free and reduced price lunch trends in your local school district, visit www.WisconsinWatch.org.

- The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with its partners - Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television and the UW-Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication - and other news media.