Kansas

"Though the Wichita school district has about 10 percent of the state's public school students, it has nearly a quarter of the state's homeless students. And the number of those students in USD 259 and the state has been soaring. Meanwhile, Gov. Sam Brownback and GOP legislative leaders are hoping to circumvent a court order to increase state funding for K-12 schools."

"For the first time ever, more than half of Kansas' K-12 students qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches based on low family incomes, according to state data released Tuesday. As of last school year, 50.3 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That compares with 45.6 percent in 2010 and 32.2 percent in 2000."

"Wichita will not participate in a new program that would offer free meals to every student regardless of family income at least not this school year, officials said."

"Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday proposed a new reading initiative aimed at boosting proficiency by using $12 million in each of the next two years from federal assistance funds aimed at low-income families."

"A recent survey by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that 19 percent of Kansas children are living below the poverty line. That's nearly 1 in 5. More than half of 3- to 4-year-olds in Kansas are not attending preschool. Study after study has proved that early education is the essential foundation for success in school, college, career and life. We can fight poverty and move to greater productivity by investing more in quality early education for disadvantaged children."

"Gray said that the sequester cuts in some cases are more significant in rural areas where families might have to travel forty miles one way' than in a larger metropolitan city, where two or three blocks away there might be another option.' Rural America often gets overlooked. We know Kansas is referred to as a Flyover State',' said Gray. But there are a lot of people here, and a lot of people in poverty.'"