What is the Department of Education?

The Department of Education is the federal department responsible for education policy, federal student aid, civil rights enforcement in schools, and educational research. Created by Congress in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter, the department was elevated from a smaller agency that had previously been part of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Shirley Hufstedler served as the first Secretary of Education. The department's headquarters is the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building in Washington, D.C., named after the President who signed the landmark Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. With about 4,000 employees, it is one of the smaller Cabinet departments by staff size.

The Department of Education plays a more limited role than its name might suggest. Most education policy in the United States is set by states and local school districts, which control curriculum, teacher hiring, school funding through local property taxes, and most school operations. The federal government accounts for only about 10 percent of total spending on K-12 education and a much larger share of higher education spending through student loans and grants.

The department's main responsibilities include administering Federal Student Aid (Pell Grants, federal student loans, and work-study programs that help millions of college students each year), enforcing federal civil rights laws in schools and colleges through the Office for Civil Rights (which handles complaints under Title VI on race, Title IX on sex including sexual harassment, and the Americans with Disabilities Act), distributing federal funds for K-12 education programs such as Title I (for low-income school districts) and special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, conducting educational research and statistics through the Institute of Education Sciences, and supporting state and local efforts to improve schools. The Office of Federal Student Aid alone manages a portfolio of more than 1.6 trillion dollars in outstanding federal student loans.

The Secretary of Education advises the President on education policy and leads federal initiatives such as standardized testing requirements, school accountability measures, and programs supporting students with disabilities. Recent Secretaries include Betsy DeVos, Miguel Cardona, and Linda McMahon.