California

"Children participating in the Hannah Project's 'Freedom School' in Marin City this summer are being taught that poverty is not a fact of life that must be grudgingly accepted, but an injustice that must be corrected. The Freedom School, a summer enrichment program at the Hannah Project, was created by the Washington D.C.-based Children's Defense Fund to encourage reading and to build leadership skills."

"More low-income students than ever took the test in 2014, according to the report, and a high level of them expressed a plan to attend college. But the bad news: performance by low-income students on the test remained stagnant for a fifth straight year."

"The first lawsuit involving the state's new education funding formula is a big one, with potential statewide implications. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, civil rights attorneys charged the Los Angeles Unified School District with shortchanging English learners, low-income children and foster youth by hundreds of millions of dollars. The district disputes the claim."

"Stanford University has just taken a huge step toward helping students whose parents make less than $125,000 a year get a college education without accruing inordinate amounts of debt."

"Even if Gibson had Section 8, he might have a hard time finding a spot. For seniors who can afford rents of $3,000 a month, there's plenty of housing available, according to Pamela Hall, an advocate at Oakland's Housing Assistance Center. Those willing to move to Tracy or Modesto can find a place in senior housing for as little as $1,700. The story for affordable housing is very different. 'There's no [affordable] senior housing,' Hall said. 'The waitlists are long. They're running from three to five years.'"