The Department of Education (DOEd) was established as a cabinet level department by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, on the heels of President Lyndon Johnson’s “Elementary and Secondary Education Act” and “Higher Education Act” in 1965. These latter two acts primarily focused on providing funds for state programs, including scholarships and student loans and improving educational quality and access.
An earlier version of the DOEd was enacted by congress in 1867 for:
“the purpose of collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country.”
Today the DOEd has a budget of $268B and employs some 4400 people. Its role is to oversee national educational policies, to administer the federal assistance program, including federal student loans, to collect data on schools, to prohibit discrimination and to identify major educational issues.
We probably spend more money on education than any country in the world, yet we have fallen behind most of the western world in primary and secondary education. In 2024 one agency ranked the U.S. 31st in the world, behind South Korea 1st, China 13th, Russia 22nd. More than half of Americans age 16-74 read below 6th grade level.
It seems the DOEd has seen its role more to provide financial help and guarantee equal opportunity (all good) and less to ensure the highest quality of education (all bad). Schools too often value their sports programs more than academic excellence. Preference is given to sports practice over study time. We pay our successful sports coaches way more than we pay our college presidents. I’m all in favor of school sports but the percent of students that seek sports as their future profession is minuscule. For the vast majority, academics is the prime determinate of their financial and social future.
The current administration seems intent on transferring the role of the DOEd to the states. That could be an improvement and save us billions, but at the same time we really need to establish an academic committee of the “best and wisest professional educators”, to institute high educational standards for each grade and to meet periodically to revue and monitor compliance.
The young people today are the leaders of our country tomorrow. There is no time to waste.
—— Just the view of a common man
Views of a Common Man 
Ollie’s recent blog on the Department of Education confirmed how the
federal oversight of our education system has miserably failed. When
Ronald Reagan was president, he wanted to abolish the Department
that had just been created by Jimmy Carter as a gift to the National
Education Association. When Carter failed to get enough support and
votes for another term, we were still left with a new federal
department which had previously been an “agency” with all the
same programs as when it became a Department. Being called a
Department just meant it now had Cabinet-level authority.
Remember the 10th Amendment? “The powers not delegated to
the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The
U.S. Constitution does not expressly mention education. The 14th
Amendment has protected public education rights, but the
Constitution does not grant rights. It guarantees rights.
President Trump’s Executive Order directs the Secretary of
Education to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the
DOE and return education authority to the States while continuing
to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services,
programs, and benefits on which Americans rely. The Order also
directs that programs or activities receiving any remaining DOE
funds will not advance DEI or gender ideology.
Interestingly, it seems that advocates and experts are more
concerned about the potential effects of losing the Department of
Education’s Office of Civil Rights than the quality of education.
Since its creation, the Department has taken on a central role in
mediating disputes and enforcing civil rights laws across the
country. After the administration reportedly cut staff at the office
as part of its wider Department of Education cuts, the American Civil
Liberties Union warned “gutting the OCR severely weakens federal
civil rights enforcement, leaving millions of students without crucial
protections against discrimination.”
Concerns about civil rights and even financial assistance are not
reasons to have a federal Department of Education. There are
approximately 30 Federal departments and agencies that provide
Federal financial assistance. These agencies are responsible for
ensuring that recipients of Federal financial assistance comply with
such laws as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act on the basis of
disability, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on the bases of
race, color, and national origin, and Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972 on the basis of sex.
For 2024 the US Department of Education’s budget was approximately
$268 billion, up from $14 billion when established in 1979, with
discretionary spending in the sum of $79,052,238.
Former president Richard Nixon said, “We are not spending the
Federal Government’s money, we are spending the taxpayers’
money. It must be spent in a way which guarantees their money’s
worth and yields the fullest possible benefit to the people being
helped”. Is the Federal Department of Education giving us our
money’s worth?
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Thanks Jeanette, for the very valid and informative commentary of this subject. Ollie
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