California

"For years, students, teachers and administrators in California's poorest districts have been given every disadvantage possible. Brown wants to fix that injustice. We hope the Legislature will work with him to find a truly just solution."

"This is the way to fund schools: simple, transparent and cognizant of the fact that disadvantaged students -- who make up 60% of the public school population -- are more expensive to educate, through no fault of their own. Every student in the state must have a safe place to attend school, and the schools of low-income students are more likely to be located in dangerous neighborhoods."

"In L.A. Unified, schools with as few as 40% low-income students had been receiving dollars, although at a lower funding level. Last year, with relatively little notice, L.A. Unified raised the minimum to 50%, which added to shortfalls at schools already enduring recession-related cuts. LACES was one such campus, with 46% low-income students last year."

"The penalties worry some health care experts who say facilities serving low-income communities will be hit the hardest by the new program, part of the 2010 federal health care reform law. Confirming their fears, most of the eight hospitals in California paying the stiffest penalties this year are located in low-income areas, according to the latest numbers released by Medicare in March."

"Despite the clear benefits of increasing the state's higher education attainment rate, the two major pathways for adult education in California the K-12 school districts and the California community colleges do not have a strategy to increase the rates of the adult enrollment and completion of some higher education."

"Billions of dollars and the education of millions of low-income students are on the line for generations to come. The goal of both is the same: deploy revenues in a manner that targets the most needy students who are lagging behind in test scores and are at greater risk of dropping out."