Numbers growing of kids in need of free, discounted meals at some Walnut Creek schools

An interesting bit of data popped up at a meeting earlier this month between Walnut Creek School District and Walnut Creek City officials. In talking about the need to preserve the counseling program at Walnut Creek elementary and middle schools, despite budget cuts, Superintendent Patty Wool noted that a growing number of students might be in need of help, possibly because their families are facing financial hardship in this down economy.  As evidence of this financial hardship, she noted that a growing number of students in the district are qualifying for free or reduced-priced lunches.  

Since 1946, the National School Lunch Program has provided free and reduced-priced lunches to school children from "economically disadvantaged" families. Public and nonprofit private schools can participate and get subsidies from the US Deaprtment of Agriculture. 

Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level are eligible for free meals.Those with incomes between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level are eligible for reduced‐price meals. The 2009 federal poverty level for a family of four is $22,050. 

The numbers of students in school receiving free or reduced-priced lunches can offer an economic picture of the neighborhood or community that school serves. To Wool, the increasing number of students in her district needing this help shows that a growing number of people in Walnut Creek are hurting from the economy. 

But these sorts of numbers are going up in most places. Between 2005 and 2009, the number of meals served under the National School lunch program increased by 7 percent in California, and by 4 percent in the United States. In 2009, 574,619,337 meals were served to California students; nationally that number was 5,185,316,342.


This first chart (Soccer Mom trying to play with Google graphs) shows schools and districts that experienced the most notable increases in the percentage of students in their populations who qualified for free or reduced-priced meals. The school years covered are 1998-99, 2003-04, 2005-06, 2008-09.

This second graph shows percentage of students in Contra Costa County, the three Walnut Creek school districts, and individual schools who qualified to receive free and reduced priced lunches. The region, district and schools are listed in the order (top to bottom) of those with the highest percentages. This data, from the California Department Education, shows percentages for the school years 1998-99, 2003-04, 2005-06 and 2008-09. The numbers in some schools stayed steady, some went down, but a fair number increased a little or a lot. 


Special note: In my playing with charts, I left off the percentages for Walnut Acres Elementary, which consistently had the lowest percentage of students in this program. No disrespect to Walnut Acres. Those numbers are: 1998-99, 1; 2003-04, 1; 2005-06, 2; 2008-09, 2. 

API score alert: Which Walnut Creek schools are giving a boost to their 'hoods' housing values?

That's right! API scores have just been released by the state Department of Education.

An API--or Academic Performance Index--score represents a composite of standardized tests that  students in each California public school take. An 800 score, out of a scale of 1 to 1000, is considered excellent, and all Walnut Creek schools cleared that hurdle. 

Some principals will have more bragging rights than others, especially when asking parents to donate money to school programs. Parents and real estate agents can also study these scores, because they do use them to determine whether a certain neighborhood, based on its school's API score, is better than another. 

As you can see, most schools improved upon their scores from the previous year, but others edged down but only a little.  The first score--in red--represents the new 2009 base score; the second number represents the score for 2008.                 

Walnut Creek School District elementaries: 

• Buena Vista: 880, 887
• Indian Valley: 918,  913
• Murwood: 887, 892
• Parkmead: 938, 927
• Walnut Heights: 935, 925

Mt. Diablo Unified elementaries: 

• Bancroft: 903, 888
• Eagle Peak Montessori: 873, 886
• Valle Verde: 927, 903
• Walnut Acres: 934, 924

Middle, intermediate schools:

• Foothill Middle: 881, 889 (Mt. Diablo Unified)  
• Walnut Creek Intermediate: 894, 900 (Walnut Creek School District)

High schools:

• Las Lomas High: 858, 844 (Acalanes Union High School District)
• Northgate: 855, 835 (Mt. Diablo Unified) 

School parcel tax extensions win voter approval

Measures G & H, the initiatives to permanently extend parcel taxes in the Acalanes Union and Walnut Creek school districts, both passed with more than 2/3 of the votes needed to win.


With all precincts reporting, voters approved Measure G, Acalanes' $189 per parcel tax extension, by 73 percent. Voters likewise approved Measure H, Walnut Creek's $82 per parcel tax by 73 percent.