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"Government spending, community support, two-parent families, race, poverty and economic segregation all play crucial roles in the success or failure of public education, panelists told about 400 people at an Access to America' forum at Central Piedmont Community College on Monday."

"Many seniors are rightly concerned that Ryan, the conservative congressman tapped by Mitt Romney as his vice presidential running mate, has proposed a plan that could result in higher out-of-pocket expenses for Medicare coverage. But disabled people could be in for an even bigger shock. People with disabilities are among the most vulnerable of the Medicare population,' said Tricia Neuman, senior vice president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. They have chronic conditions that require ongoing care, and, in many cases, they have relatively low incomes.'"

"A Pell Grant provides money for low-income post-secondary students. In the last four years, the number of Pennsylvania students with Pell Grants has grown by 50 percent, according to data of the U.S. Department of Education. For many of them, the grants are essential for earning degrees and launching careers. The 300,000 or so 'Pell students' in Pennsylvania form a significant voting bloc. The battle for their votes, however, would seem to be already decided, if the Community College of Philadelphia is a barometer."

"The Ohio Department of Education reached into its own pockets to close a funding gap for a program that helps low-income high school students pay for Advanced Placement tests after the government decreased its support. The Advanced Placement Test Fee Program, operated by the U.S. Department of Education, distributed $21.5 million in funds to states earlier this month to help low-income students pay the $87 per exam for last May's testing period. Ohio's share of $284,938 was a 25 percent decrease from last year, a much sharper drop than the 8 percent cut nationally."

"Connect2Compete: An effort aimed at closing the digital divide for low-income students, Connect2Compete offers low-cost computers and inexpensive broadband Internet access to families with children in the federal school lunch program in San Diego."

"Park Creek -- the highest poverty-level school in the Dalton School district -- has multiple extra challenges such as some students learning English in class. But the elementary is an exception to the rule when it comes to high-poverty schools, scoring higher than most other schools in the district in each of the core subjects in third grade on the state's Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests."

"Unfortunately, the best predictor of test performance in the United States is family income. That would suggest that we should work to alleviate the crushing effects on children of our ingrained economic inequality, which is the worst of any wealthy nation. Instead we choose to blame teachers and schools when children who are hungry, homeless or lacking in medical care do poorly on standardized tests."

"The effect on Medicaid is potentially even more troublesome. The program for low-income people is currently funded by both the federal government and states. The more people who sign up, the more money that must be allocated. Ryan's plan would change that. It would have Uncle Sam provide states with a limited "block grant" of Medicaid funds that states would be free to use as best they can."

"Poverty is a common thread among the area's struggling schools, but Michigan's new accountability system revealed weaknesses at buildings that passed the old system with flying colors."

"The fact is that older Americans are doing pretty well financially - by some measures, better than the rest of us. Only 9 percent of Americans older than 65 had incomes below the poverty line in 2010, according to a Census Bureau report in November. By contrast, 13.7 percent of the general population was living in poverty - including 22 percent of children younger than 18. The elderly poverty rate is higher under a different statistical definition designed to reflect seniors' greater out-of-pocket medical costs, but it still remains slightly below that of the general population."

"Strategic staffing was supposed to be the key to making the new combined elementary/middle schools successful, even though national researchers had warned such mergers haven't proved effective as a turnaround tactic for high-poverty urban schools."

"Economic inequity is the great conundrum schools and minority families face. If it were purely about racism, there is a clear remedy in the court system and in the Constitution. Instead, the need is for new funding partners for schools that have high numbers of low-income students. Continually pouring money into the same, already affluent school year after year is of limited value if that school shares a district with many struggling schools."