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"Rotary Club leaders point to her story as an example of how the Webb program works. The club... started the scholarships in the mid-1990s to help break the cycle of poverty at the north Arlington school, where 94 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged."

"'I have no problem with the Abbott districts receiving the money. I'm very happy for them,' he said. '(But) poverty is not within the borders of the community . . . A poor student in a non-Abbott (district) will not receive any money. That's totally unfair.'"

"The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a major piece of Gov. Chris Christie's cost-cutting was unconstitutional and ordered lawmakers to raise spending for poor, urban schools by $500 million next year, despite a state budget shortfall estimated at $10 billion."

"Mrs. Knox was also concerned with the welfare of society's most marginalized people, especially children growing up in poverty and those with mental illness. "

"Observers believe the court could limit its order to the 31 low-income school districts that have been provided massive amounts of state aid for years under previous decisions."

"Officials say it's due not only to parents failing to fill out forms, but poverty stigmas that continue to exist, especially in high school and middle school, even as schools now use electronic accounts that mask students who receive assistance."

"The $500 million would fully fund the state's formula for distributing money to schools only for the 31 low-income districts known as the 'Abbotts,' referring to the long-running school funding lawsuit Abbott v. Burke."

"We readily recognize the consistent, ironclad law of association between poverty and educational achievement and attainment. However, we persist in school reform strategies that, despite success at the margins, regularly fail to address the factors associated with poverty that, on average, tend to impede student learning."

"'We've been hearing a lot about the need to assist low-income children with food during the summer and we've decided to see what we could do to help them,' said Marcie Reynolds, director of Cooperative Care Center."

"At Williams, as in other schools surrounded by poverty and violence, this is the work that goes unseen. While officials debate test scores and tax dollars, teachers count victories in students who keep trying to learn when their worlds are falling apart"

"Her ultimate assessment is that the breakfast offerings may exacerbate the obesity problem. ''Poverty and hunger are real issues, yes,' she said, 'but this is not the way to fix it.'"

"Myth 1: Our schools are failing. It's true that schools with large numbers of low-income and English-as-a-second-language students don't perform as well as those with lots of middle- and upper-middle-class students who speak only English."