State Poverty Measures

How states count student poverty, school year 2025-26

Schools get extra money and extra attention for students in poverty. But each state decides for itself who counts. This shows what all 50 states and the District of Columbia do, read from their laws, plans and manuals.

Prototype. The map categories are a draft and have not been approved.

Why this matters

States send extra money to schools for students in poverty, and they report test scores and other results for low-income students separately. Both depend on a count of who those students are.

For a long time that count came from the school lunch program. A family filled out a form, and a student whose family income was low enough qualified for free or reduced-price meals.

That is changing. Many schools in high-poverty areas now serve free meals to every student and no longer collect the forms. States have replaced the old count in different ways, and some have not said how.

The result is that "a student in poverty" does not mean the same thing from one state to the next, or even between a state's funding formula and its own report cards.

What the terms mean
Funding formula
The rules a state uses to divide school money among its districts.
Main formula
The formula that carries most of the state's school money. A state can also run smaller programs outside it.
Per-student amount
The dollars the formula starts with for each student, before anything is added. Officials often call it the base amount.
Weight
How much more than one student a student counts for. A weight of 0.25 means that student brings a quarter more of the per-student amount.
Free or reduced-price meals
The federal school lunch program gives free or cheaper meals to students whose family income is below set levels. Often shortened to FRL or FRPL.
Direct certification
Matching students to records of public benefits, such as food assistance (SNAP) or cash assistance (TANF), so they qualify for free meals without a form.
Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)
A federal option that lets schools in high-poverty areas serve free meals to every student and stop collecting meal forms.
Economically disadvantaged
The name federal law uses for the low-income group on school report cards. Each state decides who is in it.
Report cards
The public reports each state issues on how its schools and groups of students are doing. Officials call the system behind them accountability.
Not found in the sources read
Nothing was found in the laws, plans and manuals that were read for that state. It does not mean nothing exists.

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National overview

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How states pay for schools, and for poverty

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All states in one table

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