ATLANTA

The South is headed for an economic crisis if states don’t begin investing more to help poor children succeed in school, according to a new report released this week.

A majority of students enrolled in public schools across 15 Southern states are now low income a situation last seen in the 1950s and 60s, and states are not doing enough to make sure they graduate from high school and go on to college, a report from the Southern Education Foundation shows.

The report is the first time the 140-year-old Atlanta-based nonprofit has taken a region-wide look at issues affecting the future prosperity of the South.

“We are essentially setting up the South for failure,” said Steve Suitts, the report’s author and program coordinator for the foundation. “If we don’t find a way to educate more students, we’re not going to have a prosperous future in this region no matter how much the sun may shine.”

Today blue collar jobs that once didn’t even require a high school diploma now call for some postsecondary training, and companies that want to relocate look for areas with good schools and an educated work force, he said. People who have a high school diploma or less can still get jobs but they tend be low wage jobs that won’t help raise them out of poverty, Suitts said.

That means the South is headed toward a weak economy with an undereducated population, high unemployment rates and high poverty, Suitts said.

Low income students are children whose family income qualifies them for free and reduced meals at school.

Poor students tend not to be as ready for kindergarten, are more likely to repeat a grade and are less likely to graduate from high school than their wealthier classmates. They perform worse than higher income students on state and national exams measuring educational progress.

But schools across the South spend less per pupil than other areas of the country, which means the students who need the extra tutoring and guidance aren’t getting it, according to the report.