Colorado minimum wage drops 3 cents, By Kristen Wyatt (AP), January 1, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle: “Colorado’s minimum wage will drop slightly in the new year – the first decrease in any state’s minimum wage since the federal minimum was adopted in 1938. Colorado’s wage is falling 3 cents an hour, from $7.28 to the federal level of $7.25. That’s because Colorado is one of 10 states that tie the state minimum wage to inflation. The goal is to protect low-wage workers from having unchanged paychecks as the cost of living rises. But Colorado’s provision also allows wage declines, and the state’s consumer price index fell 0.6 percent last year, so the minimum wage is going down…”
Day: January 4, 2010
Poverty Measurement – China
Country’s poverty line misleading, expert says, By Wang Zhuoqiong, December 29, 2009, China Daily: “The number of people in China defined as poor would at least triple if not for the country’s decades-old poverty line, a top agriculture expert said. ‘The poverty line in China has not been changed for 20 years in step with the pace of economic development,’ said Li Xiaoyun, dean of the Center of Integrated Agricultural Development of China Agricultural University. China’s poverty line of 1,196 yuan ($175) per capita net income a year is said to be too low compared with the country’s economic development and living standard…”
School Districts and Poor Children
- Schools see more minority, poor kids, By Gary Scharrer and Ericka Mellon, January 2, 2010, San Antonio Express-News: “Almost six in 10 Texas public schoolchildren are from low-income families, marking a troubling spike in poverty over the past decade, a state report shows. The increase coincides with a significant jump in the number of Hispanic students, while fewer Anglo students were enrolled last year than 10 years ago, according to the study by the Texas Education Agency…”
- How school districts help families with less, By Kerry Lester, December 22, 2009, Daily Herald: “Melissa Buenik knows that if students are hungry, it’s much harder for them to learn. So, the Mundelein High School social worker helps teachers identify teens who might not be getting enough to eat at home. ‘We look for observable behavior in class. Agitation, sleepiness, little things like that,’ she said. ‘Once we ask, kids are pretty quick to respond and tell us, ‘Yeah, my family is having financial trouble right now…'”
- High numbers of Shasta County school kids living in poverty, By Amanda Winters, December 20, 2009, Redding Record Searchlight: “Recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows a high rate of school-aged children living in poverty in Shasta County and school officials aren’t surprised. ‘There’s not a lot of employment here,’ said Merle Stolz, superintendent of Indian Springs School District, where the Census Bureau estimates 31 percent of children live in poverty. Stolz said the Big Bend school’s participation in the free and reduced-price lunch program is near 100 percent. During the 2008-2009 school year, 11 of the school’s 14 students were enrolled in the program…”
- Students cope with poverty, By Iricka Berlinger, December 21, 2009, Tallahassee Democrat: “Brittany White is angry. She is angry that she has to live at HOPE Community, a six-month transitional housing program for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, where she shares a tiny, cramped room with her mother and younger sister, Yolanda. She is angry at her mom that they can’t afford new clothes – or anything new for that matter. She is angry because she doesn’t like feeling different from her classmates…”