Poverty in Schools

The state and federal standards define low-income students as those meeting free or reduced-price lunch criteria. Schools in poverty are defined by the number of low-income students.   

A Title I school must have:
1) a percentage of low-income students that is at least as high as the district's overall percentage; or
2) have at least 35 percent low-income students (whichever is the lower of the two figures).  

Only about one-third of the schools eligible for Title I are funded nationwide.  Districts rank schools by poverty and serve them in rank order until funds run out.

Schools with 75 percent or more of the students on free or reduced-price lunch must be served.  Districts must provide sufficient funding in each school to ensure that there is a reasonable chance of the program being successful. 

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/nclb/titleI/overview/facts?&print=true