For the ninth year in a row, Wisconsin has counted an increase in the number of public school students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches.
According to the Dept of Public Instruction, 43.2% of students qualify, up from 42.5% a year ago. In raw numbers the total is now 359,000 Wisconsin public school students.
Approximately one-third come from households earning less than $30,000 a year.
In quite a few districts, more than half the students are poor enough to quality for lunch assistance. Those districts include Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Green Bay and Madison.