Policymakers Should Heed Condoleeza Rice’s Warnings

Speaking on "Meet the Press" about the nation's education challenges, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted, "I think it's gonna drive us into class warfare like we've never seen, because education, even in the segregated South, was always the way that you got out."

Dr. Rice's comments are an important addition to the national discussion on income equality that's been happening over the last few weeks. This isn't a matter of simple Thanksgiving guilt, but based on real analyses on the economy and what inequality means for the nation's future. Recently, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published a report showing that income inequality grew significantly in the last three decades. While the income of the top 1 percent and top 20 percent in the nation grew by 275 percent and 65 percent, respectively, between 1979 and 2007, the income of the nation's lowest income quartile grew by only 18 percent. As the chart above shows, when factoring in inflation, the actual disparity is even greater.

Straight A's: Reviews House Spending Bill, President's Budget, AP Report to the Nation, and State of the States

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HOUSE PASSES FY 2011 SPENDING BILL: Bill Cuts U.S. Department of Education Funding by $5 Billion; Title I, School Improvement Grants, Striving Readers, and Other Programs Facing Funding Cuts: At 4:40 a.m. on February 19, after days of contentious debate and hundreds of amendments, the House of Representatives passed a comprehensive spending bill that would keep the government running through Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, which ends September 30. The bill makes more than $60 billion in cuts, including a $5 billion cut to the U.S. Department of Education. The bill passed on a party-line vote of 235–189, with three Republicans joining 186 Democrats who voted unanimously against the bill.

OBAMA RELEASES FY 2012 BUDGET: U.S. Department of Education Slated to Receive 4.6 Percent Increase in Funding: Released on February 14, President Obama’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 budget proposes spending $48.8 billion in discretionary funds for the U.S. Department of Education, a 4.6 percent increase over FY 2010.