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"There's nothing wrong with providing families with options. When charters open in their own privately financed, state-of-the-art buildings in poverty-stricken neighborhoods where they're welcomed by the community, there may be reasons to celebrate. But when charters co-locate in mixed-income areas, choice is only half the story."

"Fortunately, there's an easy solution. Rather than curtailing public and private pensions, New York and other states could save millions of workers from impending poverty by creating public pensions for everyone.While the recession bears some blame for the looming retirement crisis, experts agree that the primary cause is more fundamental: Most workers do not have retirement accounts at work. "

"The high school senior had lived in a homeless shelter with her mother and older sister. Her father was largely absent because he was in and out of jail. She considered herself just another statistic - poor, female and Hispanic - living in the Bronx."

"The three high schools listed are receiving School Improvement Grants from the federal government. Those grants go to low performing Title I schools. Title I schools have a high number of low income students."

"U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Ali announced new findings from a data collection tool to help analyze the achievement gap in the U.S. education system. That tool, the Transformed Civil Rights Data Collection, consists of self-reported information covering college and career readiness, discipline, school finances and student retention."

"Supporters envision a community hub that would instill a sense of ownership, where students could walk to class and parents would become more involved. But an estimated 87 percent of students would be low-income, a concentration that alarms opponents who find little evidence that such a school would improve or even sustain academic achievement levels."

"Michigan and Alabama are being singled out by President Obama for cutting support to universities, saying the states did not comply with a federal rule requiring them to provide consistent funding. The states are facing loss of their College Access Challenge Grants, which is aimed at helping low-income families with academic counseling, financial aid and other assistance."

"At a church in Kissimmee on Tuesday, more than 60 volunteers formed an assembly line to divvy up $10,000 worth of groceries into individual shopping bags. The food's destination? Osceola County schools whose pantries will help ensure homeless students don't go hungry during spring break next week."

"Talbot, joined by Jindal's policy chief Stafford Olivia Palmieri, pitched his proposal as another choice for parents of low-income children. Palmieri said the contribution-rebate model would dovetail with the governor's separate proposal to use the state's public school financing formula to pay tuition for certain low-income children."

"Head Start is a government program that began in 1965 with the purpose of giving preschool children from impoverished families educational opportunities they would not otherwise have and thus giving these children a 'head start,' so they may enter kindergarten with more exposure to structured learning environments."

"To be sure, most affluent parents still opt for a full-time nanny instead of an early childhood care center. And many lower-income parents rely on government subsidies to pay for day care. "

"For years, Rockville High School has sent the children of doctors, lawyers and high-ranking government officials on to top-notch universities. But for Principal Debra Munk, one story stands out: a black student, a Kenyan immigrant, who went on to Harvard University."