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"Those cuts would almost halve the grant amount for more than 26,000 deserving students at nonprofit private colleges across the state, even though such grant awards comprise less than 3 percent of the state's budget. This measure would block access to higher education and sacrifice the aspirations of low-income students for a minimal, if any, improvement to the state's bottom line."

"Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling's tie-breaking vote enabled Republicans to deliver a legislative victory to Gov. Bob McDonnell on Friday, as the Virginia Senate passed legislation to award tax credits for contributions to private school scholarships for needy students."

"'California has the "finest system of higher education in the world,' but it's in peril because of budget cuts, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said... The public must be made to understand the danger, he said, adding people wrongly think the system is managing despite having been cut by $2 billion in the last year. Over a few years, a system of higher education that took a century of investment is being destroyed, he said."

"Though Noble officials say waivers and payment plans are available, 90 percent of students are low-income, raising questions about the affordability of discipline fees. "I can't imagine that a policy like this wouldn't result in some families leaving,' Mr. Welner said."

"Mayor Rahm Emanuel, our heat-seeking Missile and a strong proponent of charters, heralds Noble for knowing the 'secret sauce' of strong educational performance. But challenges posed by a high-poverty student population remain daunting, no matter the sauce. Noble's system of fines is unusual, if not unprecedented."

"'I believe the single biggest factor (in the achievement gap) is poverty,' Rhodes said. The home life and background of children affect what they know when they enter the system and when they return to school after breaks, he said."

"Living in rural North Carolina, Linda Sue Jones doesn't see her teenage son as the archetype of a national trend. But 15-year-old Josh, as a boy who lives in the South in a household headed by a single woman, is characteristic of the exploding numbers of children in the USA living in poverty numbers exacerbated by the recession that has pushed many families into poverty for the first time."

"The Obama administration will propose a $5 billion competitive grant program to encourage states to overhaul the teaching profession, federal education officials said Tuesday, using its Race to the Top school improvement competition as a model."

"For example, out of 55 countries in an Urban Institute study of countries that succeed in improving academic achievement of low-income children, the U.S. ranked 36th, according to the Education Trust, a nonprofit that focuses on closing the gap."

"Further, dropping out puts a teenager on a rocky life path, one marked by struggles, setbacks, and, in many cases, pathologies. `When you look at unemployment rates, poverty rates, incarceration rates, all of the things that have huge negative impacts and huge costs to society are all tied to high school dropouts,'' Duncan adds. One example: Dropouts make up 70 percent of this state's jail and prison population."

"As we reflect on how U.S. presidents have influenced the course of our national life, their consistent support for serving at-risk children exemplifies the true American spirit."

"With grant funding, the district has bought more than 400 iPads in the last year - a small step toward one for each of its 10,000 students. Most of them are in Jefferson, Merrill, Roosevelt and Washington elementary schools - schools given the 'School of Recognition' title because their students test better on state standardized tests than would be anticipated based on their poverty levels. A handful of the devices are also at West and North high schools."