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"The case came down to socioeconomic equality, said Michelle Fine, a social psychologist at City University of New York... 'We have policies that have distributed pain and burden in a way that low-income schools have for generations paid a price,' she said."

"Poor children who eat breakfast at school for free will have to pay 30 cents a meal for the last few months of this school year after Republicans on the legislature's Joint Budget Committee refused to provide additional funding for the growing program."

"The bonus system was planned as a pilot program several years ago with the support of the teachers' union, which required that the money be given to schools as a whole, rather than to individual staff members. Only high-poverty schools can qualify..."

"The proposal would require wholesalers to pay the 'dime per drink' tax on all of their liquor sales upfront and then pass along the cost to retailers and restaurants, which presumably would pass it along to consumers per drink."

"'This time of the year, we would have had about 15 students in the 9th grade drop out. They get discouraged and don't come back after Christmas break,' said Nathan White, 53, principal of C.A. Johnson High School, which serves a low-income area in downtown Columbia."

"Republicans have generally said they are not against early childhood education but that taxpayers shouldn't pay for preschool for families who can afford it. They favor providing assistance to low-income families rather than paying for a statewide program."

"A new school funding formula is headed for debate in the Senate that would grant extra funding weight to districts for all poor students and those who have trouble speaking English."

"The Georgia Public Service Commission has approved a $5 million grant to provide assistance to low-income senior citizens who are natural gas customers in the Atlanta Gas Light Company distribution area."

"Melissa and Orlando Winters make enough money to scrape by, but too much to qualify for government-run preschool programs for low-income families. The couple worry Iowa lawmakers will wipe out universal preschool just as their daughter... becomes eligible for it."

"Famed child advocate Marian Wright Edelman on Monday helped celebrate a Charlotte literacy program for low-income children whose success has been validated by a new UNC Charlotte study."

"The corporate scholarship measure would provide tax credits to companies that donate cash to nonprofit organizations that provide private-school scholarships to low-income students."

"'These are kids below the poverty level and there is an enormous volume of research showing that preparing children for success in school in these early years ... is a tremendously positive investment,' Britt said."