California

"The San Diego Unified School Districts board Tuesday threw its unanimous backing behind a proposal to ask voters in November to raise the minimum wage and require five paid sick days for all people working in San Diego."

"The program is a collaboration of Los Angeles public and private partners led by the Youth Policy Institute, which received a $30-million federal grant in 2012 to launch the initiative in the high-poverty neighborhoods of East Hollywood and Pacoima."

"President Barack Obama's proposed budget for fiscal year 2015 includes a big-ticket expense: $75 billion over the next 10 years to help states provide free pre-kindergarten education to millions of low- and moderate-income 4-year-olds."

"It's a challenge that's ratcheting up pressure on educators who struggle to aid students who have fallen years behind their classmates after a lifetime of bouncing between hotels, shelters and cramped multi-family apartments."

"The state's new formula for funding schools is a tremendous gift for districts that enroll large numbers of disadvantaged students. But it's not quite the giveaway some of them had expected."

"A record 2,200 students attending Solano County public schools were homeless this past year, a nearly 40 percent increase from the previous year and a nearly four-fold increase since 2010-11, the Solano County Office of Education reported."