There is a quiet, suffocating atmosphere that settles into a classroom when money—or the lack of it—becomes the central, unspoken character. It is easy to look at academic performance through the lens of test scores and curriculum, but we often ignore the economic reality that dictates whether a student can actually learn or a teacher can actually teach. For a student, poverty isn't just about missing supplies. It is the persistent, low-level hum of anxiety that follows them from a home where the electric bill is a source of tension. That stress acts as a cognitive tax, cluttering the mental space meant for solving equations or analyzing literature. When you are worried about basic survival, the abstract goal of "doing well in school" often feels like a luxury you cannot afford. The teachers are not immune, either. We ask them to be mentors, disciplinarians, and curriculum experts, but we often do so while ignoring the fact that many educators are struggling to pay their...