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"The City Council gave a stamp of approval for the California Affordable Housing Agency to issue $12 million in bonds for a housing project for low-income seniors. The council approved the bond issue 4-2 even though the city is not responsible for issuing or repaying the Housing Revenue Bonds for the Orange Tree Senior Apartment project planned at 1511 Robinson St."

"A new program is giving Belmont High School students more help with improving their study skills and exploring college options. Last year, Sinclair Community College received a $1.5 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education to establish and offer the Educational Talent Search program at Belmont. Christopher Welch, project director of the Educational Talent Search program at Belmont, explained the program is designed to provide academic and motivational support to low-income students and students who would be the first generation in their families to go to college."

"The fact is that teachers are being saddled with absurdly high expectations. Some studies have shown a correlation between student performance and teacher "effectiveness," depending how this elusive quality is measured. But there is a whole body of academic literature proving the stronger correlation between student performance and a much more important variable: family income."

"No one likes teachers strikes. But teachers are on the front line. In a time of spreading poverty and rising hunger, with harsh exploitation of the poor by landlords and payday lenders, poor children too often come to impoverished schools. Teachers take the rap for poor student performance without having the power to change what gets in the way of learning."

"Under the state's new accountability system, New Mexico schools with higher levels of poverty still generally received lower grades than their more affluent counterparts. That's true despite the state Public Education Department's efforts to control for the effects of poverty. State public education chief Hannah Skandera acknowledged a relationship between poverty and school grades, but she pointed to exceptions and stood by the system as a fair way to grade schools."

"Wisconsin experienced a dramatic uptick in the number of children living in poverty. Census data show the number of school-age children in poverty rose to about one out of six in 2010. According to the U.S. census, two-thirds of Wisconsin counties experienced a significant increase in child poverty over the last three years. Every county but one in the new 31st Senate District, which I represent, experienced a significant increase in child poverty."

"The United Way of Greater Milwaukee's Individual Development Account (IDA) program, in conjunction with the efforts of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee and Select Milwaukee, a nonprofit counseling program for homebuyers, is helping minority and low-income applicants gain the financial stability needed to pursue their dreams. By providing eligible participants with matching dollars for every dollar they save themselves, the IDA program offers a valuable monetary boost to those who want to buy that first home or attend a postsecondary school."

"Bazillion Books for Kids is well on its way to getting 1 million books into the hands of low-income Oregon children. Barely a year old, the Portland organization Bazillion Books for Kids is more than halfway to its goal of donating 1 million new and secondhand books during 2012 to low-income children in Oregon who might not otherwise have any books at home."

"Programs like Feeding Children Everywhere, based in Sanford, help make sure students are prepared to be educated. As many studies have shown, proper nutrition helps with learning. If a student comes to school hungry, his focus and concentration are compromised, said Trey Csar, president of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund. Poverty is one of the biggest challenges urban school districts face, Csar said. Kids who are hungry throughout the day are focused on things other than learning."

"A district where large shares of students are poor or black has a strong probability of performing poorly in the ratings, according to a mathematical analysis by The Associated Press. The average district with an F rating in 2012 had a student body that was 93 percent black, with 91 percent from impoverished homes. Statewide, half of public school students are black and 62 percent are impoverished."

"Today, more families are turning to home and community-based services to ensure their loved ones remain independent for as long as possible, allowing them to stay in their home or apartment or a homelike setting and around their families. However, our government fails to provide proper support for low-income persons who need these crucial senior services. That's unfortunate because home and community-based services provides a wide variety of opportunities to protect the quality of life seniors expect to enjoy."

"The most important civil-rights battleground today is education, and, likewise, the most crucial struggle against poverty is the one fought in schools."