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"Aging & Long Term Care of Southeast Washington, the agency providing services to seniors and people with disabilities in eight counties including Benton and Franklin, expects to lose $160,000 to sequestration if an alternative isn't adopted by Congress."

"Such disparity perpetuates a cycle of poverty, keeping even the smartest, hardest-working kids out of academic environments that might help them climb out of the economic basement. High achievers who forgo an education at a top-flight school could lose millions of dollars in earnings over a lifetime by forfeiting opportunities that a big-name diploma could bring."

"A big new study from Caroline M. Hoxby and Christopher Avery finds that high-achieving kids from poorer families are much less likely to apply to top colleges, even even though they would have a very good shot at getting in and qualifying for financial aid. And here's the stunning part: For many of those low-income students, the top colleges would actually be cheaper than the schools they do end up going to again, because of financial aid."

"The near-peer influence of those recent college graduates who shepherd high school and college students to a four-year degree works: So far, 58 percent of students who've participated in the program in its initial location of Minneapolis-St. Paul have earned bachelor's degrees."

"Most high schools with large numbers of low-income students still resemble the Central Magnet of the 1980s, based on the results of the new study, which is by Caroline M. Hoxby of Stanford and Christopher Avery of Harvard. The students do not apply to selective colleges partly because the colleges have not been aggressive in recruiting them. And even if a college has reached them and urged them to come, many students cannot fathom doing so. They may not know anyone who has attended such a college, Ms. Hoxby notes."

"Compared to people in other age groups, more individuals under age 3 live in poverty and are more likely to experience developmental problems. Early childhood education helps to mitigate the disparities caused by poverty. Programs like Early Head Start, which serves pregnant women and children from birth to three years, offer services through individualized plans to children and their families."

"Just 9 percent of students from the poorest families complete a degree -- meaning less than a third who ever enroll make it to commencement. By comparison, 54 percent of the most wealthy students earn a diploma, meaning they have about a two-thirds success rate."

"The Texas Education Agency estimates that for next fiscal year, up to $51 million in federal money could be slashed from special-education programs and $65.4 million from Title I, a federal initiative that aids low-income students, along with cuts to teacher professional development, career-technical programs and English language acquisition classes."

"In a study published last year in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, researchers from Stanford, Harvard, the University of Toronto and the National Bureau of Economic Research looked at the college-enrollment decisions of 26,000 families in Ohio and North Carolina. The families all had incomes under $45,000. When some of those students and parents were asked to guess what annual tuition was at a local two-year public college ($3,099 at the time), they overestimated by an average of 300 percent."

"In a release Wednesday, the Illinois State Board of Education says the spike in low-income students and those with limited English has led to increased costs for school districts."

"A proposal to offer tax breaks for donating to a scholarship fund that would allow low-income Arkansas students to attend private schools failed before a state Senate panel Wednesday, after state education and finance officials raised concerns about the impact the move would have on the budget."

"Innovative math and science lessons have paid off with $175,000 Burroughs Wellcome grants for three area teachers ��� two in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and one in Gaston County. All three plan to use their grants to help students in high-poverty schools succeed in subjects that can lead to lucrative careers [...] The Burroughs Wellcome Fund ��� a private foundation headquartered in Research Triangle Park that promotes biomedical science ��� has decided it�s essential to start early. The fund launched its 'career awards' for North Carolina K-12 science and math teachers in 2009. 'We�re trying to change the culture of teaching in North Carolina,' fund official Carr Thompson said Monday."