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"The CAP report points out that 10 states have publicly declared that they will opt out of the Medicaid expansion, and more are undecided. CAP then found that more than 164,000 seniors live below the poverty line in states that may opt out of the Medicaid expansion, using 2011 data. That means approximately 434,000 seniors could be left without insurance annually by 2021. And this is a conservative estimate - it's based on 2011 data, and the population of seniors will grow significantly over the next decade."

"The Syracuse district would lose by far the most -- $1.6 million -- among the 44 districts in Cayuga, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties. The combined loss for all the districts for the 2013-14 school year would be $4,971,678, according to the association. The cuts would come in programs that mainly benefit the most vulnerable students -- children with disabilities and children in poverty."

"Failure to reach a deal by the new year would usher in broad tax increases and mandatory federal spending cuts of about $109 billion a year through 2021. NEA officials say more than $4 billion a year of that would be slashed from education, with much it coming from programs aimed at helping struggling schools, low-income students and the disabled."

"Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett vowed Monday to move forcefully to address the city's crisis in K-8 truancy and absenteeism, declaring: 'We must work to shut down the dropout pipeline.'"

"Washington is in the middle of a fight on sequestration.' Unless the government takes action to balance our national budget, we will face the reality of devastating cuts to all government-funded budgets -- the so-called fiscal cliff. Unfortunately, here in the Clark County School District, this bickering could translate to slashed funding for federal education programs that serve our neediest students such as Title I funding for low-income students and programs for special needs students through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)."

"She knew that colleges sent out millions of letters to 11th-graders who took the Princeton Review prep course. The whole Dear Tabitha campaign was about as personal as fliers from Tire Express. But nearing the end of her junior year of high school, without a single item of value to secure her future not even a $50 U.S. savings bond from a departed relative the mail was all she had."

"If the Texas Legislature is in session, there must be a fight about Medicaid going on. The health care program for the disabled, the elderly poor and the impoverished raises hackles every two years, mostly because the number in need keeps rising alongside health care costs."

"This is what poverty sometimes looks like in America: parents here in Appalachian hill country pulling their children out of literacy classes. Moms and dads fear that if kids learn to read, they are less likely to qualify for a monthly check for having an intellectual disability."

"Starting next fall, Public School 133 in Park Slope will set aside 30% of its coveted kindergarten seats for kids who are living in poverty or are struggling to learn English. The local school board voted to approve the admissions scheme this week after dozens of meetings with parents, education officials and school administrators."

"That's according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which for the first time Thursday reported vocabulary scores pulled out from the reading tests given to fourth-, eighth- and 12th-graders nationwide. Which is troubling, experts say, since vocabulary is essential to reading comprehension, and poverty keeps rising in Illinois. More than half the state's 1.95 million schoolchildren qualified for free or reduced lunch in 2012."

"Spring Lake Elementary is overcrowded, but Sabal Point, Wekiva, Forest City and Bear Lake elementary schools have excess student desks. Sabal Point, which is farthest from Spring Lake, has the most room. The rezoning plans developed by the committee must balance the percentage of low-income students at each school."

"As many as 6,000 children and their families are entitled to free lunches, waived fees, school supplies and other financial help, but aren't receiving it, according to school district estimates. Many of them don't fit the traditional picture of homelessness -- living outside, in parks or beneath overpasses -- but some do. Under an energetic new leader, the former principal of Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of the Arts, the Homeless Education Assistance Resource Team is trying to find these children -- and then help make sure they graduate."