education

The total lunch debt students have accumulated in Kansas climbed to more than $23 million last year. Many school districts have policies that single out kids when they can’t afford to pay, and a new report shows that can hurt families, even if those policies aren’t strictly enforced.

Two hundred years ago, more than two dozen Native American tribes hunted buffalo along the plains of south-central Kansas before they were displaced by European explorers and settlers. Learning their history is crucial to understanding Wichita’s past.

Melody McCray-Miller, Ngoc Vuong and incumbent Stan Reeser won their races for Wichita Board of Education, edging out opponents who were supported by the local Republican party.

Wichita's oldest high school — Wichita High School East at Douglas and Grove — marks 100 years this month. Students, faculty and alumni are using the milestone to reflect on the school’s history and its impact on the community.

A legislative committee on education offered a glimpse at what Kansas lawmakers could propose during the 2024 session. The Legislature hinted at changing the formula for funding special education and pushing more school choice measures.

Kansas education leaders plan to deny accreditation to Urban Preparatory Academy in Wichita, a private school run by Bishop Wade Moore, an outspoken advocate for tax-credit scholarships and other school choice measures. Moore calls the move "politically motivated."

Missing school has become a crisis statewide. More than one in four Kansas students were chronically absent during the 2021-22 school year, which means they missed at least 10% of instruction time. That figure nearly doubled over the previous two years.

Parents of Wichita elementary school students will get a copy of the book in advance of a district-wide lockdown drill next week.

Voters in the Central Plains district near Great Bend voted no on a proposal to disband the district. Residents upset over the closing of Wilson High School had pushed for the plan.

Melody McCray-Miller, a former teacher and Democratic state legislator, garnered 54% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Brent Davis, owner of a tutoring and test-prep business, received 24% of the vote.