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"Some experts criticize a rise in state poverty grant' money for wealthier school districts, including the ones in Glenview and Northbrook, but local administrators and parents say the funding is warranted and needed."

"Welcome to Educare, a state-of-the-art $16 million preschool that education officials consider a model for the nation. It is part of a national network of high-quality early education facilities aimed at low-income children and funded with private and public money."

"Started in 1965 as part of the War on Poverty, Head Start aims to address the social, emotional, and academic needs of more than a million children in classrooms nationwide as well as aid their families. Students learn ABCs, numbers, and science basics, most notably, in one Jamaica Plain classroom, about caterpillars. Head Start is one of a broad range of programs, such as those that provide housing for the poor and shelter for the homeless, that are beginning to suffer from the impact of sequestration, the term applied to sweeping federal spending cuts intentionally forged to be so dire that they would force Washington lawmakers to reach a compromise on reducing the nation's deficit."

"Low academic achievement has been linked to poverty in education research and Sandburg is among schools with student test scores low enough for the state Department of Public Instruction to label it a focus' school in need of more interventions to close the achievement gap. Wilfrid points out, though, that the school also was recognized for a greater-than-expected rate of improvement among its English language learners."

Commentary: Deborah Axt, Make the Road New York

"In his most ambitious overhaul effort yet, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed to dramatically change how California funds education. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Assembly Speaker John A. P̩rez, D-Los Angeles, in their final years in the Legislature, should get behind the governor's effort. Brown's idea is to replace state-mandated categorical programs with a new formula that provides a basic level of funding, with additional money for disadvantaged students and those learning English."

"One of the most important, and least considered, factors influencing what happens in classrooms is what happens in lunchrooms. That's because lunchrooms are where a school's relationship to the socioeconomic realities of its community are most glaringly apparent. As much as we argue over myriad issues surrounding education from testing to charter schools to teachers unions there is an insurmountable truth in the lunchroom: Impoverished children bring massive challenges into schools. Many of the problems that have been identified as school failures stem as much from poverty as anything."

"Local educators say those attendance rates the number of actual days of attendance divided by the possible days of attendance are overall very good, but there still is room for improvement. Students from families that qualify for free- and reduced-price school meals, which a measurement of family's economic status, typically rank about 1 percentage to 3 percentage points behind their more affluent peers. Although 1 percent might not seem like much, in reality it means that low-income students don't spend as many hours in class, and that could be a substantial reason why they typically lag behind in typical measurements of academic performance, educators say."

"Nearly half of the nation's elderly population is economically vulnerable' and would be particularly hard hit by even modest changes in the Social Security and Medicare programs being considered to slow the growth of the nation's long-term debt, according to a new report. The liberal Economic Policy Institute said that 48 percent of the elderly population earns less than double the supplemental poverty threshold, putting those seniors at financial risk if their income is cut even slightly."

"Addressing the needs of children who come from low-income families also was a key theme among educators at the forum. Low-income students are more likely to be absent from class and drop out."

"'Under the governor's proposal, it will be a lot better,' Cannella said. There is a great injustice in funding. Palo Alto gets $14,000 per student, while in Merced County it's $6,200 per student. Merced County has the second-highest poverty rate in the state.'"

"An LAUSD recount of applications for Title I funding determined that four more schools qualified to receive thousands of dollars in federal anti-poverty money, officials said Wednesday. A total of about $182,000 will be shared in 2013-14 by Daniel Pearl High School in Lake Balboa, Enadia Way Charter Elementary in West Hills, Atwater Elementary in Silver Lake and the Performing Arts Community School in South L.A., said Matt Hill, the district's strategy officer."