The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services by the Department of Education Organization Act, which President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from ...

signed into law on October 17, 1979. The Department of Education is administered by the

United States Secretary of Education The United States secretary of education is the head of the U.S. Department of Education. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States, and the federal government, on policies, programs, and activities re ...

. It has 4,400 employees - the smallest staff of the Cabinet agencies - and an annual budget of $68 billion. The President's 2023 Budget request is for 88.3 billion, which includes funding for children with disabilities (

IDEA In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of bein ...

), pandemic recovery, early childhood education,

Pell Grants A Pell Grant is a subsidy the U.S. federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree, or who are enrolled ...

, Title I, work assistance, among other programs. Its official abbreviation is ED ("DoE" refers to the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United State ...

) but is also abbreviated informally as "DoEd".

Purpose and functions

Unlike the systems of many other countries, education in the United States is decentralized. Due to the courts and lawmakers' interpretation of the 10th Amendment, this means the federal government and Department of Education are not involved in determining curricula or educational standards or establishing schools or colleges. The

Department of Defense Education Activity The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is a federal school system headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and managing prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs on behal ...

(DoDEA) oversees schools located on American military bases and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Education supports tribally-controlled schools. The quality of higher education institutions and their degrees are maintained through an informal private process known as

accreditation Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

, over which the Department of Education has no direct public jurisdictional control. The Department identifies four key functions: * Establishing policies on federal financial aid for education, and distributing as well as monitoring those funds. * Collecting data on America's schools and disseminating research. * Focusing national attention on key educational issues. * Prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education. The Department of Education is a member of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, and works with federal partners to ensure proper education for homeless and runaway youth in the United States.

Budget

For 2006, the ED discretionary budget was $56 billion and the mandatory budget contained $23 billion. In 2009 it received additional ARRA funding of $102 billion. As of 2011, the discretionary budget is $70 billion.

History

Establishment

The Department's origin goes back to 1867, when President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a De ...

signed legislation for a Department of Education. It was seen as a way to collect information and statistics about the nation's schools and provide advice to schools in the same way the Department of Agriculture helped farmers. The Department was originally proposed by Henry Barnard and leaders of the National Teachers Association (renamed the National Education Association). Barnard served as the first commissioner of education but resigned when the office was reconfigured as a bureau in the Department of Interior known as the

United States Office of Education The Office of Education, at times known as the Department of Education and the Bureau of Education, was a small unit in the Federal Government of the United States within the U.S. Department of the Interior from 1867 to 1972. It is now separated ...

due to concerns it would have too much control over local schools. Over the years, the office remained relatively small, operating under different titles and housed in various agencies, including the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the man ...

and the former United States Department of Health Education and Welfare (DHEW) (now the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)). An unsuccessful attempt at creating a Department of Education, headed by a Secretary of Education, came with the Smith–Towner Bill in 1920. In 1939, the organization (then a bureau) was transferred to the

Federal Security Agency The Federal Security Agency (FSA) was an independent agency of the United States government established in 1939 pursuant to the Reorganization Act of 1939. For a time, the agency oversaw food and drug safety, education funding, administration of ...

, where it was renamed as the Office of Education. After World War II, President Dwight D. Eisenhower promulgated "Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1953." The Federal Security Agency was abolished and most of its functions were transferred to the newly formed DHEW. In 1979, President Carter advocated for creating a cabinet-level Department of Education. Carter's plan was to transfer most of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's education-related functions to the Department of Education. Carter also planned to transfer the education-related functions of the departments of Defense, Justice, Housing and Urban Development, and Agriculture, as well as a few other federal entities. Among the federal education-related programs that were not proposed to be transferred were Headstart, the Department of Agriculture's school lunch and nutrition programs, the Department of the Interior's Native Americans' education programs, and the Department of Labor's education and training programs. Upgrading Education to cabinet-level status in 1979 was opposed by many in the Republican Party, who saw the department as unconstitutional, arguing that the Constitution doesn't mention ''education'', and deemed it an unnecessary and illegal federal bureaucratic intrusion into local affairs. However, many see the department as constitutional under the

Commerce Clause The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and a ...

, and that the funding role of the department is constitutional under the

Taxing and Spending Clause The Taxing and Spending Clause (which contains provisions known as the General Welfare Clause and the Uniformity Clause), Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution, grants the federal government of the United States its ...

. The National Education Association supported the bill, while the

American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders. About 60 per ...

opposed it. As of 1979, the Office of Education had 3,000 employees and an annual budget of $12 billion. Congress appropriated to the Department of Education an annual budget of $14 billion and 17,000 employees when establishing the Department of Education. During the 1980 presidential campaign, Gov. Reagan called for the total elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, severe curtailment of bilingual education, and massive cutbacks in the federal role in education. Once in office, President Reagan significantly reduced its budget. Educational Horizons
"The Educational Legacy of Ronald Reagan"
, Summer 2004 v. 82 n. 4 p. 256

Early history

The Republican Party platform of 1980 called for the elimination of the Department of Education created under Carter, and President Ronald Reagan promised during the 1980 presidential election to eliminate it as a cabinet post, but he was not able to do so with a Democratic

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ca ...

. In the 1982

State of the Union The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditio ...

Address, he pledged: "The budget plan I submit to you on Feb. 8 will realize major savings by dismantling the Department of Education." By 1984 the GOP had dropped the call for elimination from its platform, and with the election of President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; p ...

in 1988, the Republican position evolved in almost lockstep with that of the Democrats, with

Goals 2000 The National Educational Goals, also known as the Goals 2000 Act were set by the U.S. Congress in the 1990s to set goals for standards-based education reform. The intent was for certain criteria to be met by the millennium (2000). Many of these go ...

a virtual joint effort. After the

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U. ...

-led "revolution" in 1994 had taken control of both Houses of Congress, federal control of and spending on education soared. That trend continued unabated despite the fact that the Republican Party made abolition of the department a cornerstone of 1996 platform and campaign promises, calling it an inappropriate federal intrusion into local, state, and family affairs. The GOP platform read: "The Federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved in school curricula or to control jobs in the market place. This is why we will abolish the Department of Education, end federal meddling in our schools, and promote family choice at all levels of learning." In 2000, the Republican Liberty Caucus passed a resolution to abolish the Department of Education. Abolition of the organization was not pursued under the George W. Bush administration, which made reform of federal education a key priority of the president's first term. In 2008 and 2012, presidential candidate

Ron Paul Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, physician and retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, as wel ...

campaigned in part on an opposition to the department.

Later history

Under President George W. Bush, the department primarily focused on elementary and secondary education, expanding its reach through the

No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based educatio ...

. The department's budget increased by $14 billion between 2002 and 2004, from $46 billion to $60 billion. On March 23, 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law , which designates the ED Headquarters building as the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building. In December 2015 President Barack Obama instituted the

Every Student Succeeds Act The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a US law passed in December 2015 that governs the United States K–12 public education policy. The law replaced its predecessor, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and modified but did not eliminate p ...

, which reauthorized the Elementary Secondary Education Act. “In December 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law, reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and replacing the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). ESEA, the federal law that authorizes federal funding for K-12 schools, represents the nation’s commitment to equal educational opportunity for all students and has influenced the education of millions of children."

Organization

References

External links

*
Department of Education
on USAspending.gov
Department of Education
in the

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on fe ...

Department of Education
reports and recommendations from the Government Accountability Office
ERIC Digests
– Informational digests on educational topics produced by the U.S. Department of Education before 1983. * *
United States Government Manual, Department of Education
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States Department Of Education

Department Of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pu ...

Education ministries Government agencies established in 1979

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. V ...

Purpose and functions

Budget

History

Establishment

Early history

Later history

Organization

See also

Related legislation

References

Further reading

Primary sources

External links