The Department of Education is administered by the United States secretary of education. It has 4,400 employees – the smallest staff of the Cabinet agencies[5] – and a 2024 budget of $238 billion.[6] The 2023 Budget was $274 billion, which included funding for children with disabilities (IDEA), pandemic recovery, early childhood education, Pell Grants, Title I, work assistance, among other programs. This budget was down from $637.7 billion in 2022.[7] Its official abbreviation is ED ("DOE" refers to the United States Department of Energy) but is also abbreviated informally as "DoEd".
Purpose and functions
Unlike the systems of many other countries, education in the United States is organized at a subnational level by each of the fifty states. Under the 10th Amendment, the federal government and Department of Education are not involved in determining curricula or educational standards or establishing schools or colleges.[8] The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) oversees schools located on American military bases[9] and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Education supports tribally controlled schools.[10] The quality of higher education institutions and their degrees are maintained through an informal private process known as accreditation, over which the Department of Education has no direct public jurisdictional control.
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[11] and works with federal partners to ensure proper education for homeless and runaway youth in the United States.
For 2006, the ED discretionary budget was $56 billion and the mandatory budget contained $23 billion.[13] In 2009 it received additional ARRA funding of $102 billion.[14] As of 2011, the discretionary budget is $70 billion.[13]
History
Establishment
The department's origin goes back to 1867, when President Andrew Johnson 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.[15] 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 due to concerns it would have too much control over local schools.[16][17][18]
In 1939, the organization (then a bureau) was transferred to the Federal Security Agency, 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.[20]
In 1979, President Carter advocated for creating a cabinet-level Department of Education.[21] Carter's plan was to transfer most of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's education-related functions to the Department of Education.[21] 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.[21] 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.[21]
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 does not 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, and that the funding role of the department is constitutional under the Taxing and Spending Clause. The National Education Association supported the bill, while the American Federation of Teachers opposed it.[22]
As of 1979, the Office of Education had 3,000 employees and an annual budget of $12 billion.[23] Congress appropriated to the Department of Education an annual budget of $14 billion and 17,000 employees when establishing the Department of Education.[24] 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,[25] but in 1989, perhaps to reduce conflict with Congress, he decided to change his mind and ask for an increase from $18.4 billion to $20.3 billion.[26]
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,[27] but he was not able to do so with a DemocraticHouse of Representatives.[28] In the 1982 State of the Union Address, he pledged: "The budget plan I submit to you on Feb. 8 will realize major savings by dismantling the Department of Education."[28]
By 1984 the GOP had dropped the call for elimination from its platform, and with the election of President George H. W. Bush in 1988, the Republican position evolved in almost lockstep with that of the Democrats, with Goals 2000 a virtual joint effort.[citation needed]
After the Newt Gingrich-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.[28] 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."[28]
In 2000, the Republican Liberty Caucus passed a resolution to abolish the Department of Education.[29] 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 campaigned in part on an opposition to the department.[30]
Later history
A construction project to repair and update the building façade at the Department of Education headquarters in 2002 resulted in the installation of structures at all of the entrances to protect employees and visitors from falling debris. ED redesigned these protective structures to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. The structures were temporary and were removed in 2008. Source: U.S. Department of Education[31]
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 department's budget increased by $14 billion between 2002 and 2004, from $46 billion to $60 billion.[28][32]
In December 2015, President Barack Obama instituted the Every Student Succeeds Act, 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."[citation needed]
^Warren, Donald R. (1999). "United States Department of Education (ED)". In Altenbaugh, Richard J. (ed.). Historical dictionary of American education. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 370–372. ISBN978-0-585-39202-8. LCCN98-51632. OCLC49569806. EBSCOhost63757.
^ ab"The Department's History". An Overview of the U.S. Department of Education. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Education. September 2010. p. 1. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
^Young, Michelle D.; Winn, Kathleen M.; Reedy, Marcy A. (13 October 2017). "The Every Student Succeeds Act: Strengthening the Focus on Educational Leadership". Educational Administration Quarterly. 53 (5): 705–726. doi:10.1177/0013161x17735871. ISSN0013-161X. S2CID149148569.
