WASHINGTON - For the first time in more than 40 years, the majority of children in public schools in the South are poor, according to a report released today.

In 11 Southern states, a significant increase in the number of poor children attending public school has pushed their numbers above 50 percent of the student body. North Carolina comes close -- 49 percent of the state's schoolchildren live below the poverty line.

The increase has sent district officials scurrying for solutions on how to best educate kids who are coming from economically disadvantaged homes.

"The future of the South's ability to have an educated population is going to depend on how well we can improve these students' education," said Steve Suitts, a program coordinator with the Atlanta-based Southern Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on Southern educational issues and conducted the study.

In places like Memphis, Tenn., where roughly 80 percent of students come from low-income homes, that has meant adopting models that address teaching children in poverty. In Florida's Miami-Dade district, where 61 percent of students are on free or reduced-price lunch, that has meant strengthening efforts to improve all students' math and reading scores and curb dropout rates.

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Standardized high school exit exams put states to the test

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States are facing these questions as they grapple with what seems a simple requirement: asking graduating seniors to pass exit exams in core subjects.

Twenty-two states have some type of exit exams; four are phasing them in.

Observers are divided on whether the tests improve education as a coalition of business leaders, governors and advocates for low-income children asks states to hold firm.

But the tests are proving controversial. Maryland has delayed exams by two years. The state Board of Education meets today and Wednesday to decide whether to move the date again.