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TUCSON, AZ - According to the McKinney-Vento homeless education, in Pima County alone there are 4,012 homeless students. That's an increase of 451 homeless students from this time last year.

Southern Arizona's largest school district, TUSD, is aggressively addressing the problem. The district's homeless liason is reaching out to the families, making sure they have all the resources and assistance they need.

Jim Wilkerson moved to Tucson, with his wife and sons, when both of them lost their jobs in California.

They're staying at one of Primavera's homeless shelters, doing their best to get by. Wilkerson says his children are nervous.

"Several times they've said 'where are we gonna sleep tonight?' Concerned, you know? It's hard on their nerves," says Wilkerson.

The boys missed six weeks of school last year in California. In Tucson, over the summer, they've been keeping up on their reading.

It's federal law, under the No Child Left Behind Act, that homeless kids are allowed to go to school even if they technically don't have a "home" in the district.

TUSD'S Homeless Liason, Pam Fine says, "They can either go to the school where they currently reside or to the last school they attended. The liason will set up transportation."

The Tucson Unified School District had about 1,600 homeless students last year.

Fine says, "I have transported students from Amado down toward Nogales, back and forth to school each day, to keep a student stable."

And districts work together, to make sure there's stability.

To be considered homeless, the children must sleep in a shelter, on the streets or in parks, must live in foster or group homes, or must be doubled up. For example, families forced to live at a grandparent's house.

It's a much different existence than the Wilkerson's past life, "We had a 3 bedroom house, two cars. We lived pretty, pretty good. This was just a glitch on the screen, hopefully."