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"According to the U.S. Department of Education, the National School Lunch program, which provides free or reduced-price meals to children of low-income families, experienced steady expansion in Massachusetts between 2006 and 2011. As of the close of the 2010/2011 academic year, some 34.2 percent of the state's K-12 students were enrolled in the free and reduced-price lunch program, compared to 28.9 percent in the 2006/2007 academic year."

"Gov. Jerry Brown will give more than $2 billion extra to K-12 districts next school year and again ask lawmakers to direct more funding to impoverished students and English learners in his budget plan today, according to education sources familiar with the proposal."

"Harrison is a traditional American folk musician, storyteller and dance caller, and for the past year he has visited the Tubman Center courtesy of the Howard County Arts Council's Head Start in Art program, which provides hands-on experiences in the arts for the county's low-income families. The program began in 2000 in conjunction with the Ellicott City Head Start Center and expanded to the Tubman Center last year."

"In the Bridge Magazine analysis, the school had the largest value-added matrix (VAM) in Genesee County. Bridge used the VAM to determine its 2012 Academic State Champs. Bridge Magazine is celebrating schools that are finding ways to push learning through the socioeconomic ceiling."

"Utah Valley University broke ground Thursday on an expansion of its child-care center for low-income students. Designed to help more parents finish college, the 14,000-square-foot Wee Care Center at 1138 S. 400 West in Orem, will be able to hold 110 children when complete."

"Seminole school-district officials have backed away from realigning elementary-school attendance zones based on equalizing the number of low-income students at each school. Complaints from members of committees redrawing attendance zones, as well as parents concerned that their children would be forced to switch schools, prompted district officials to "clarify" how the percentage of low-income students should figure into the mix."

"The money is transformational' for Futures, whose annual budget is about $2.8 million. It will support the organization's strategic plan and fund a new program that could annually help up to 800 low-income, first-generation-to-college students with precollege guidance and continuing support through college graduation, Mazzotti said."

"Clearly the problems that create pockets of poverty are larger than the school district can handle by itself. Educators can help students and families learn to better their situations, but such transformations won't happen simply because students are forced to attend a different school. Such transformations happen when students learn to read, to do their multiplication tables, to stay fit and active, and to love music and art."

"The number of homeless students in the AISD has also increased. In the last five years, it has jumped from 617 homeless students in fall 2008 to 811 this year. Brokovich said the number of unaccompanied homeless students - those who do not have adult supervision - has also risen, with only 20 students claiming that status in 2010, but more than 130 homeless students this year. He said most of the homeless students generally attend the district's secondary schools."

"Neighborhood House is an innovative K-8 charter school whose student population represents the demographics and learning issues of high-needs schools nationally. The goal of the pilot is to channel the passion and energy of national service in a focused way and have a significant and measurable impact on student success in high poverty schools."

"It is no surprise that this disparity in senior and childhood poverty exists. We have made a national commitment to provide income and health security for seniors through Social Security and Medicare. For children, on the other hand, we have only a combined federal-state commitment to health insurance, but children have no social compact to protect them against the whims of the economy that lead to severe declines in their family incomes. And the one sure way of alleviating the effects of poverty funding education is left primarily to states and localities, and is continually under threat. In essence, we've built a social safety net for seniors, but left a gaping hole for our kids to fall through."

"But helping senior citizens who are on the streets or facing homelessness can be especially challenging, he said, because seniors are often on fixed incomes, have greater barriers to employment and may need intensive medical care or additional services, including caregiving help. While Hilarion Phillip, 65, can live independently, he says he struggled to get off the streets after becoming homeless two years ago, largely because he couldn't find a place he could afford."