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"The Hillsboro School Board remained skeptical this week of a request by Washington County to offer tax-exempt status to owners of low-income housing within district boundaries."

"Roughly 100 percent of Kimberley Park's students get free or reduced-price lunches, a measure of the relative poverty the school finds among its families. It's a Title 1 school, meaning it gets extra money from the federal government."

"''You had to see it to appreciate the juxtaposition of this horrible poverty -- shanties with signs saying 'Help' -- right under the bridge on the way to glamorous Miami Beach,' Ms. Brown said recently. 'No one wanted to do anything about it because it was political suicide to ask for help for sex offenders.'"

"'We see children as young as 4 years old and adults as old as in their 80s,' said Dr. Patton. In addition to working with individuals who make appointments, 'we work (through grants) with various groups such as veterans, children and the homeless, and we see a wide range of people in terms of age, ethnicity and income.'"

"The result is uneven class sizes. Some high-poverty schools along Route 1 in the Mount Vernon district have average classes, in the high teens and low 20s. In well-to-do McLean, averages hover in the high 20s, and classes can climb into the mid-30s."

"Graduate students will pay more for loans taken out next July, and recent graduates will lose rebates for on-time repayment under a law Congress passed this summer to keep the federal deficit in check while protecting Pell Grants for low-income students."

"Petersen said there is a correlation between children living in poverty and their education levels. The new preschools are aimed at closing the knowledge gap between at-risk children and those who have had access to additional educational resources, she said."

"The state's largest school district has added 515 students since this time last year, but the number of students from low-income families is growing even faster."

"For example, a voucher bill that came out of the Senate earlier this year, SB1, would start with low-income students in low-performing schools, but ultimately extend vouchers to all students, even those already in private schools. That obviously would cost far more than a more limited program."

"One-third of child-care centers in low-income communities contain unsafe play equipment, half lack space for active indoor play, and a fifth suffer from poor ventilation that can make children drowsy, according to an unusual survey of the physical conditions at places where many children spend most of their waking hours."

"For decades, states were free to set their own goals, but they failed to narrow achievement gaps between students of different races and income groups and failed to deliver on the promise of educational opportunity for all, he said. 'This feels like a betrayal of low-income kids, of kids of color,' said Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust, an advocacy group."

"Since 2010, the percentage of Georgians 65 or older living in poverty has actually fallen, while the median income has risen slightly. For working-age adults, the opposite is true."