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"About 90 percent of Atlanta Metro's students receive Pell Grants, a federal program for low-income students, said Alicia Scott, director of financial aid. Students told Scott they'd have to leave school if they didn't get additional aid or a loan."

"The demographic numbers paint a grim picture. Poverty becomes increasingly more likely as a person ages, according to the report. From 2006 to 2008, 14.5% of people 90 and older lived in poverty."

"Bloomington has the third highest poverty rate in the nation according to U.S. Census data that ranked all cities with populations greater than 65,000. That number however is largely inflated by the city's student population, which is nearly half of the city's population."

"It's astonishing enough that notoriously picky high schoolers would have something nice to say about the food in their cafeteria. But these meals containing premium ingredients are provided for free to low-income students or sold for $2.25 at most."

"Students who take remedial instruction are even less likely than their community college peers to focus on a program, according to the study. Low socioeconomic status students, who are more likely to take advantage of the cheaper tuition at community colleges, are the least likely to finish a program."

"A pair of Republican lawmakers is sponsoring a bill that would give low-income parents in the state's four biggest counties vouchers for private school tuition. Giving teachers bonuses to work in poor schools received mixed reviews. About 50 percent of Democrats favored the idea, but Republicans and Independents did not."

"High poverty rates mean children are likely going to school from homes where unemployment, financial constraints, substance abuse and neglect are common problems. The by-products are less supervision of children outside of school, less help with homework and simply less parental involvement in a child's education."

"The union representing hundreds of school support workers who lost their jobs last month plans to sue New York City on Wednesday, claiming the layoffs were unnecessary and discriminatory because of their disproportionate impact on schools that serve poor students."

"Almost 90 percent of students at the low-performing schools are members of minority groups and are from low-income families, groups that have traditionally lagged academically.In one of the schools targeted yesterday, James F. Leonard Middle School in Lawrence, 96 percent of students are from low-income backgrounds."

"Oregon and the Salem-Keizer School District battle a persistent achievement gap for minority students, low-income students and English language learners. Oregon fourth graders who qualify for free or reduced lunches are on average 2.5 years behind their classmates on national reading tests."

"The recent column titled "Head Start just another failed notion" (Web, Wednesday) is an unwarranted and ill-informed mischaracterization of Head Start's successful, national commitment to providing critical early-childhood education services to our nation's poorest children."

"Smaller majorities say teachers should not be paid more to work in schools with large numbers of poor students or receive extra pay if students excel on standardized tests."