This Lunch Smells Funny

 A funny thing happened while we were looking at Free/Reduced lunch percentages.   We were looking at SPASD data and happened upon the DPI files for individual school eligibility percentages.

And then we noticed that SP4K was listed in the 2009-10 all school data.

And THEN we noticed that SP4K had a Free/Reduced  (F/R) price meal eligibility percentage of 2%  (6 out of 381 kids).

And THEN we wondered how could that be...when the rest of the district averaged 27% for 2009-10 (ranging from 15% to 48% at individual schools)?

And THEN we noticed that the SP4K data was not reported for 2010-11.
An we wondered, "What's up with that?"
And so we went to work...

We tried to locate as many 4K schools across the state we could and compared the free/reduced meal eligibility of the 4K program to its district-wide percentage.

Granted, we could only positively identify 14 schools as being 4K (we wonder why...is it naming convention, or are most districts not reporting data for 4K).  But of the 14 schools, only 3 had 4K F/R %ages over 11%.  9 of the 14 has 4K F/R percentages at or below 7%.

And we found that interesting because the average district-wide F/R eligibility percentage for these districts was 36% (statewide, the average is 37%).  Hmmm....

Wasn't the whole idea of 4K to give kids a jump on learning to better prepare them for school?  And weren't kids from lower socioeconomic status homes identified as the kids that could benefit most from 4K?
If that's true, then why is the socioeconomic makeup of kids attending not very well mirroring the makeup of their districts?

Isn't anyone looking at this?  Particularly Sun Prairie...a district that prides itself as an academic leader?
These data, limited though they may be, sure seem to lend credence to those opposed to 4K, citing that it was merely serving as a form of taxpayer funded, elitist daycare.

You know...for a district that's showing a widening achievement gap in some of its schools, maybe it's time to spend more effort getting the kids that could most benefit from 4K into the program, instead of, say... buying candy as "rewards to motivate" kids?  Trips to China?

Are these highly paid administrators just bored with their jobs?  Constantly seeking some new"thing" to sink their teeth into?  When are we going to start focusing on the programs and kids we have now?

Wait...after hearing about her aversion to large numbers of F/R eligible kids, Caren Diedrich must just LOVE SP4K!