The smiling faces of children at Bonjour Elementary in Lenexa seem much the same from year to year &mdash; bright and eager to learn.</p><p>But beneath those innocent smiles, Principal Alejandro Schlagel understands there&rsquo;s a deeper truth. More of his students are poorer in a suburban community considered by many to be economically affluent.</p><p>Four years ago, the rate of Bonjour students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches was 32.5 percent. Today it is almost 50 percent. The largest increase &mdash; 13 percentage points &mdash; occurred in the last two years.</p><p>This Johnson County school isn&rsquo;t alone. The recession is hitting many suburban communities hard, and some schools are seeing large increases in students applying for free or reduced-price lunches, which is one measure of poverty.</p><p>In Liberty, more students are showing up for breakfast and heading home on Fridays with backpacks filled with food to help feed them over the weekend. In the Park Hill School District in Kansas City North, a free clothing center is experiencing unprecedented use from district students in need.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just the urban schools. It&rsquo;s the suburbs as well,&rdquo; said Denise McPherson, one of three women who help run the clothing center. &ldquo;Every district in the metro has a need. They may not realize the extent of it.&rdquo;</p><p>At Bonjour, the lives of children in the classroom are shifting, a pattern repeated throughout the district. </p><p>&ldquo;The demographics of the Shawnee Mission District are changing,&rdquo; Schlagel said. </p><p>Two years ago, the free or reduced-price lunch percentage in the district was 21.7 percent. Today it&rsquo;s slightly over 30 percent.</p><p>In Missouri, Lee&rsquo;s Summit is considered one of the state&rsquo;s most affluent communities. But this year, Lee&rsquo;s Summit Elementary became the school district&rsquo;s first Title I school with its free or reduced-price lunch population reaching 57 percent, an increase of 24 percentage points over the last five years.</p><p>Cedar Creek Elementary has seen that student population rise from 1.2 percent in 2004 to 10 percent today. The Lee&rsquo;s Summit district has gone from 9.9 percent in 2004 to 17 percent this year.</p><p>In the Piper School District in Kansas City, Kan., Superintendent Steve Adams watched free and reduced-price lunch enrollment go from 7 percent to 13 percent in one year.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of folks hurting,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>The Blue Springs School District in eastern Jackson County had almost 12 percent of its students on free or reduced-price lunches in 2004. This year, that level rose to 22 percent of the district&rsquo;s 14,162 students.</p><p>Leigh Anne Neal, a spokeswoman for the Shawnee Mission District, said the food service department has seen an increase in people applying for the free or lower-priced lunches for their children.</p><p>&ldquo;There have been a lot more with families who are experiencing loss of a job who have never before had to seek assistance, and they don&rsquo;t know what to do,&rdquo; she said.</p><p>Dale Dennis, deputy commissioner for the Kansas Department of Education, said last year the number of Kansas students receiving free or reduced lunches increased 9 percent. This year that number rose 13 percent.</p><p>&ldquo;We are seeing this all across the state. A lot of it has to do with job losses,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>The increase in poor students comes with a big price tag. Dennis estimated that the Legislature will be asked to come up with an extra $42 million next year because of the increase in students qualifying for free lunches and considered at risk. Last year, the state provided districts with $198 million in additional state aid for that student population.