One official with the Partnership to End Poverty says he doesn't expect the number of people living below the poverty line to change much from last year. Scott Cooper says it's a vicious cycle, and there is only one way to get out of the poverty problem. "You know, if we could just maintain flat for a couple of years, that would be an improvement over where we've been since the beginning of the recession. There’s still hope that things could get better out there. Lots of things going on at the national level and even at the state level, hoping to get things turned around. But ultimately the answer to all this is that people gotta have a job. We’ve got to put people back to work." Cooper says one indication that more people are dropping below the poverty level is that the number of kids needing reduced or free lunches in our schools is escalating. He adds that the real state numbers will not be released for a couple of weeks, but he doe not expect to see much change from last year.