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"Are we expecting too much of our teachers? Schools are clearly a critical piece -- no, the critical piece -- in any anti-poverty strategy, but they can't go it alone. Nor can we do school reform on the cheap. In the absence of any bold effort to alleviate the pressures of poverty, in the absence of any bold investment in educating our children, is it fair to ask that the schools -- and by default, the teachers -- bear sole responsibility for closing the economic divide? This is a question asked not only in Chicago, but in virtually every urban school district around the country."

"Whites who didn't flee the city after the schools were desegrated fled the schools. Less than 9 percent of Chicago public school kids are white. And few of those kids are not in charter or other specialized schools. The real' schools, as Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis called them a few days ago, have long since been abandoned by white folks. With overwhelming poverty in black and Latino neighborhoods, parents simply can't afford to send their kids to private schools. A whopping 87 percent of all public school students come from low-income families, says the school system."

"Back in November 2005, when this year's graduates were in sixth grade, the superintendent of Kalamazoo's public schools, Janice M. Brown, shocked the community by announcing that unnamed donors were pledging to pay the tuition at Michigan's public colleges, universities and community colleges for every student who graduated from the district's high schools. All of a sudden, students who had little hope of higher education saw college in their future."

"David Douglas is the only high-poverty east county school district to show overall improvements on state test scores for last school year, according to results released Wednesday. The share of district students who met state 2012 standards increased from the previous year in every area except science, where the number of passing students decreased in all three grade levels tested. Elsewhere in east county, where the districts have a higher percentage of children who live in poverty and speak English as a second language, students generally scored below state averages."

"Are the social factors Lewis named beyond a teacher's control? Sure. But do any of those mean kids can't learn, can't excel at school? Absolutely not. A 2011 federal study showed impoverished inner-city kids in Boston, New York, Houston and other metro areas outperforming Chicago elementary students in math and science. The kids all shared similar backgrounds. Teachers in those other cities' classrooms obviously didn't think their students couldn't learn."

"The most important civil rights battleground today is education, and, likewise, the most crucial struggle against poverty is the one fought in schools. Inner-city urban schools today echo the separate but equal' system of the early 1950s. In the Chicago Public Schools where teachers are now on strike, 86 percent of children are black or Hispanic, and 87 percent come from low-income families. Those students often don't get a solid education, any more than blacks received in their separate schools before Brown v. Board of Education."

"A federal grant for $1.1 million will help low- income students attending California State University, Sacramento. The grant $220,000 annually for five years has been bestowed on the school's McNair Scholars Program, which aids low- income and first-generation students, and underrepresented juniors and seniors."

"Living on an inflexible budget, one that teeters on the brink of poverty, is not what most people equate with retirement. But that is pretty much what anyone who lives solely on Social Security can expect. According to the Social Security Administration, 23 percent of married couples and 46 percent of single people receive 90 percent or more of their income from Social Security. Furthermore, 53 percent of married couples and 74 percent of unmarried people receive half of their income or more from the program."

"On Monday in San Diego, the Board of Governors' unanimous decision to ration college access officially shifted the system away from the practice of college for all that has been part of Californians' consciousness - and the state's Master Plan for Higher Education - for generations. Today it's a luxury. Many students are criticizing the move by the Board of Governors, saying it will unfairly shut out thousands. Others, including college advocacy groups, applaud the move and say prioritizing in an era of austerity and shrinking budgets makes sense. The enrollment priority shift comes as Gov. Jerry Brown considers whether to sign into law SB1456, a bill that would prevent low-income community college students from receiving fee waivers unless they develop clear academic or vocational goals and stick with them."

"The Smiles for Seniors Foundation is an organization serving low-income seniors in the Inland Empire and surrounding areas. Each year, the foundation provides emergency assistance and safety net services to struggling low-income seniors in need. It is one of the leading agencies providing food, housing, medical and other assistance to seniors."

"In Chicago, 85 percent of the roughly 400,000 public school students are either African-American or Latino. A similar percentage receives free or reduced-price meals, which means these students live at or near the poverty line: $27,214 for a family of three, in a typical case. The average public-school teacher in Chicago earned almost triple that amount - $76,000 per year, according to the school district. In contract negotiations this year, Chicago Public Schools offered an average total pay increase of 16 percent over four years."

"On Sunday night, when she announced that the teachers were going on strike, Lewis said that teachers should not be at risk of losing their jobs over new evaluations that rely heavily on standardized test scores, which don't account for outside factors like poverty and homelessness. Reformers have long complained that teachers' unions too often use poverty as an excuse for poor performance. Lewis's remarks would seem to justify that complaint."