Nearly four in 10 Wisconsin elementary students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch last school year, and the proportion of such students has climbed every year of this decade, according to state Department of Public Instruction data analyzed by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

The center found the proportion of Wisconsin elementary students eligible for subsidized lunches hit 37.6 percent last year, compared with 30.3 percent in 2000.

The proportion of low-income students doubled or more than doubled in 47 of 411 public school districts during the period, reflecting the toll of the worsening economy and what some experts call a growing threat to education in Wisconsin.

More than 90 percent of the growth in the low-income elementary student population since 2000 occurred outside of Milwaukee, the center's analysis found.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers said he expects the number of low-income students will continue to grow for another year or two. Job losses in Wisconsin have led to a near doubling in the past year of the statewide unemployment rate, now at an estimated 8.7 percent.

The expansion of low-income student populations comes at a time when districts across Wisconsin are facing a 3 percent overall cut in general state aid and sharper cuts in some schools, which may force leaders to reduce services and increase class sizes. Yet low-income students often need more attention in school to compensate for a lack of academic support and distractions caused by financial problems at home, national research has shown.

Although subsidized-lunch enrollment is frequently used to gauge the size of low-income student populations, experts caution that many things influence that number, including how aggressively schools recruit students for the program and the stigma often associated with receiving assistance. That stigma is less prevalent among younger children, experts say, so the center based its analysis on subsidized-lunch enrollment in the lower grades.

This school year, a household of four earning $28,665 or less would qualify for free lunch. Families earning $40,793 or less qualify for reduced-price lunch.

The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism collaborates with its partners - Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television and the UW-Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication - and other news media.

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