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"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."

"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."