Iowa

"Hundreds of low-income Iowans will get an unpleasant surprise when they apply for rent reimbursement from the state this year. The Iowa Department of Revenue is reducing 2014 reimbursements to 429 low-income seniors and disabled residents by an average $89 after discovering the agency accidentally overpaid them last year."

"Among the challenges states like Iowa face in implementing the Affordable Care Act: reconciling the new law with existing laws. Obamacare encourages states to expand their Medicaid programs to cover more low-income Americans. Decades-old federal law requires states to try to recover money from the estates of deceased Medicaid enrollees (if there is any money or assets) that the government paid for their health bills."

"A rather startling calculation came recently via the Sioux Falls School District: Almost half of the students in the city's schools qualify for free or reduced lunches. That means almost every other student in class lives in a family poor enough to qualify for financial assistance from the federal school lunch program."

"With the introduction on Wednesday of a bill by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa to expand preschool access to low-income families, more children like Tegan may have the same opportunity."

"The effort is part of ICCSD's diversity policy. Passed by the School Board earlier this year, the policy charges administrators with leveling out poverty rates across the district. Proponents say specialized curriculum will draw students from around the district, from both low-income and high-income families.

"This spreadsheet lists each grade at each school from this past fall's Iowa Assessments. The first four columns represent school-wide percentile rankings in main subject areas."