Official Name: U.S. Department of Education (ED)

Mission Statement: ED's official mission is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the Nation.

Director:: Margaret Spellings

Number of Employees: 4,454 (FY 2005)

FY2008 Budget

• Establishing policies relating to federal financial aid for education, administers distribution of those funds, and monitors their use
• Collecting data and oversees research on America's schools and disseminates this information to educators and the general public.
• Identifying the major issues and problems in education and focuses national attention on them.
• Enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination in programs and activities receiving federal funds and ensures equal access to education for every individual.

• The Department's elementary and secondary programs annually serve more than 14,600 school districts and some 54 million students attending more than 94,000 public schools and 27,000 private schools.
• Department programs also provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to nearly 9.9 million postsecondary students.

• No Child Left Behind

History:

1867    -    The original Department of Education was created to collect information on schools and teaching that would help the States establish effective school systems

1917    -    Vocational education became the next major area of Federal aid to schools, with the 1917 Smith-Hughes Act

1944    -    The "GI Bill" authorized postsecondary education assistance that would ultimately send nearly 8 million World War II veterans to college

1946    -    George-Barden Act was passed, focusing on agricultural, industrial, and home economics training for high school students.

1950    -    Impact Aid laws of 1950 eased the burden on communities affected by the presence of military and other Federal installations by making payments to school districts

1958    -    Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik. To help ensure that highly trained individuals would be available to help America compete with the Soviet Union in scientific and technical fields, the NDEA included support for loans to college students, the improvement of science, mathematics, and foreign language instruction in elementary and secondary schools, graduate fellowships, foreign language and area studies, and vocational-technical training.

1964    -    Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevented discrimination by government agencies (i.e. public schools) based on race

The Higher Education Act authorized assistance for postsecondary education, including financial aid programs for needy college students

1972    -    Title IX of the Education Amendments prohibited discrimination based on sex

1973    -    Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibited discrimination based on disability

1980     -   Congress established the U.S. Department of Education (ED) on May 4, as a Cabinet level agency

• Elementary and Secondary Education
• Federal Student Aid
• Institute of Education Sciences
• Office for Civil Rights
• Office of English Language Acquisition
• Office of Innovation and Improvement
• Office of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs
• Office of Management
• Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools
• Office of the Chief Financial Officer
• Office of the Chief Information Officer
• Postsecondary Education
• Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
• Vocational and Adult Education