BY MATTHEW E. MILLIKEN

mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684

DURHAM -- Participation in the Durham school district's free and reduced-price lunch program rose by nearly 6 percent from October 2008 through last month.

District officials only discussed figures from 2008 and this year at a school board committee meeting Thursday, but information on the Durham system's Web site shows a dramatic rise in the past three years.

In 2007, 45.9 percent of all district youngsters participated in the free or reduced-price program. The corresponding numbers were 50.9 percent last year and 56.7 percent in 2009.

The increase was not considered an entirely bad thing by school officials. Nor was it viewed by them as an undiluted indication of the impact of the economic recession.

The district has sought to expand participation in the program in part by creating a center to process applications, sometimes on the day they are received, by expanding community outreach for the program, and by scheduling sessions at which applications may be submitted.

Hugh Osteen, the district's assistant superintendent of operational services, called the increase good news. "We're identifying students that need to be on this program," he said.

Hank Hurd, the district's chief operating officer, noted that as the district's participation rate in the free and reduced lunch program increases, so do federal benefits. The available discount for telecommunications purchases in the E-Rate program and payments under the Title I program, aimed at helping disadvantaged students, both increase as the ratio of students in the free and reduced program rises.

"This is just a win-win," Hurd told school board members.

Board members seemed to welcome the report.

On a related note, board member Omega Curtis Parker praised the district's current policy for students who are behind on lunch payments. Kids without the right amount of money can get a meal but can't get snacks, she said.

Her colleague Kirsten Kainz said that there are wide disparities in the poverty rates at various Durham schools and that poverty is "certainly highly correlated with student achievement."

Middle College High School has just 9.5 percent of its students in the free/reduced program. The next lowest rate, and the only other one below 26 percent, is Easley's 17.5 percent. But there are six elementary schools and other secondary school, Chewning, where the rate tops 90 percent. The highest rate is Eastway's 98.9 percent.

The districtwide free/reduced lunch rate of 56.7 percent translates into about 18,000 of Durham's roughly 31,800 public school students. That's far higher than the 11,933 children under 18 that the federal government deemed to be poor in Durham County in 2007, the latest year for which data is available, and more than twice the 7,331 children 5-17 labeled poor in 2007.

But eligibility for the lunch program is based on a number of factors. Children in families with up to 130 percent of income listed in federal poverty guidelines may get free meals; those with up to 185 percent of income in those guidelines can get reduced prices. Being homeless, a runaway, a migrant, or a member of a household receiving food stamps or certain other types of welfare would also qualify students for the program.