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"Student suspension numbers are higher than the other seven elementary schools combined. More than 80 percent of the children live in poverty, a factor educators say can be an obstacle to school success. Administrators and teachers are under pressure from state and federal education departments to show improvement."

"There are several causes for the rapid rise in the cost of an education at California's public universities. The state has cut back dramatically its share of the costs. Also, cutting fees for low-income students, which we support, means that middle-income families that do not qualify for financial help must take on more of the burden."

"Because of a federal budget cut, thousands of low-income students across the nation may not be able to afford the fees for their Advanced Placement exams this spring -- exams that could save them thousands of dollars in college tuition."

"Currently, so many of our children are growing up in poverty that 35 percent of 5-year-olds do not have age-appropriate language skills, one-third of third-graders are not reading at grade level, and 28 percent of our students are dropping out of school before graduation. And only one-third of our at-risk preschool children have access to quality preschool programs."

"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."