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Whites No Longer Majority in Oklahoma Urban Schools

Oklahoma City, OK – A state school official says poverty and a growing population of minority students, including non-English speaking Hispanics, are presenting major challenges to public schools in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Oklahoma state School Superintendent Sandy Garrett released the statistics during a meeting yesterday of the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education.

Garrett said whites now make up only 22 percent of the student population in Oklahoma City. Hispanics are the biggest minority at 40 percent, followed by blacks at 30 percent, American Indians at 5 percent and Asians at 3 percent.

In Tulsa, whites total 34 percent of the population, the same as blacks, with Hispanics at 20 percent, Indians at 11 percent and Asians at 1 percent.

More than 80 percent of students in both districts qualify for free or reduced lunches because of their families' low income levels.