Schools identified as high-poverty or high-needs often pose the biggest challenge to educators. How can kids learn, people ask, when they lack adequate food, clothing or safety on the way to class?

I'm sorry for Alaina and for all the extraordinary teachers throughout California who have been unceremoniously dispatched -- and to the multitudes of students whose education will suffer for it.

If "education" is the key to success, then thousands of public schools are not educating students.

For our nation to move forward, all public school students must have access to a high-quality education. Fair school funding is an essential precondition to achieving that goal.