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"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."

"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."