Minority and low-income students are public school majority

Public schools in Southern states now enroll a majority of non-white and impoverished students, according to this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell.

A new study from the Southern Education Foundation reports that in Louisiana, 51.2% of public school students are minority, mostly African-American. Sixty-six percent of our public school students come from low-income families.

The study, which is online here, notes that the South has always had"a disproportionately large number of low income children to educate," dating back to the end of the Civil War.

The message of the study is stated in its preface: "Poverty and lack of a good education beget poverty and inequality. The South is in the throes of a self-perpetuating vicious cycle. "