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"The school opens next month in a storefront in uptown Charlotte's South End. The first class consists of 18 fifth-graders, all from low-income homes, with the school expanding to grades 5-8 in the next four years."

"Two Fairfax supervisors... threatened to vote down the county's $3.3 billion budget this year because of the money, or lack thereof, for low-income school programs. About half of the county's budget is allocated to the 170,000-student school system."

"Students from low-income families are not able to replace the $3,000 the state will cut from each award to those attending private colleges. Students attending public colleges will not find an extra $1,000 available to replace what the state has cut from their aid."

"The schools are generally in poor neighborhoods, and many of their students contend with offshoots of that poverty: violence, gangs, a lack of resources at home. Students often fall years behind in their reading, math and test-taking skills"

"Lifeline was created 25 years ago to ensure landline phone access was affordable to rural and poor communities. Now, TracFone Wireless has announced a new lifeline program that provides a free cell phone and 60 minutes of free monthly time for emergencies for low-income...[and] elderly..."

"Adelante is for Laramie County residents who earn no more than 185 percent of the federal poverty limit. They also must be parents with dependent children. The program provides specialized services for the Hispanic or Latino community."

"'Jefferson is now considered a high-poverty school district with students (who) have a need for greater services, and that costs money,' said Meza, who cautions against correlating per-pupil spending with academic performance."

"Many low-income students are eligible for a waiver of their tuition fees at California's community colleges. In fact, about half of the students at the College of Marin have obtained fee waivers, Cook said."

"Garinger made the split in an effort to turn around years of low academic performance. While some of the small schools have showed strong results, most continue to be among the district's most challenged schools, with poverty high and performance weak. "

"Students in the high-risk category -- mostly black and Hispanic boys, some homeless dropouts and some formerly gang-affiliated -- are also given jobs. The array of interventions is financed by federal stimulus grants through 2012..."

" They, like low-income inner-city parents, would benefit greatly from programs like the successful and popular Swedish universal voucher program that attaches public funding to children so that they can attend the public or private independent school of their choice."

"Clark opened a middle school in a low-income community because of the impact teachers have on kids that age. A Johns Hopkins University study found that potential dropouts can be spotted as early as sixth grade and that a student's socioeconomic background can play a role."