United States Department of Education#Organization

The department identifies four key functions:{{Cite web |title=An Overview of the U.S. Department of Education: How Does ED Serve Students? {{!}} U.S. Department of Education |url=https://www.ed.gov/about/ed-overview/an-overview-of-the-us-department-of-education--pg-2 |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=www.ed.gov |language=en}}

• 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 issues in education and making recommendations for education reform.
• Prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education.

The Department of Education is a member of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness{{cite web|url=http://www.usich.gov/member_agency/department_of_education/|title=Department of Education | Member Agency|publisher=Usich.gov|access-date=2012-08-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826101616/http://www.usich.gov/member_agency/department_of_education|archive-date=26 August 2012|url-status=dead}} and works with federal partners to ensure proper education for homeless and runaway youth in the United States.

{{Education in the U.S.}}

In 1867, President Andrew Johnson signed legislation to create 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.{{cite book |last=Warren |first=Donald R. |title=Historical dictionary of American education |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-585-39202-8 |editor-last=Altenbaugh |editor-first=Richard J. |publication-place=Westport, Connecticut |pages=370–372 |chapter=United States Department of Education (ED) |lccn=98-51632 |oclc=49569806 |id={{EBSCOhost|63757}}}} 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 United States Commissioner of Education. He 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.{{cite web | last=Kosar | first=Kevin R. | title=Act to Establish a Federal Department of Education, 1867 | website=Federal Education Policy History | date=19 February 2011 | url=https://federaleducationpolicy.org/2011/02/19/1867-act-to-establish-a-federal-department-of-education/ | access-date=2 May 2024}}[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=014/llsl014.db&recNum=465 Chap. CLVIII. 14 Stat. 434] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221074808/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=014%2Fllsl014.db&recNum=465 |date=21 December 2016 }} from [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/ "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U. S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406043000/http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/ |date=6 April 2012 }}. Library of Congress, Law Library of Congress. Retrieved April 25, 2012.{{cite web|url=https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/focus/what.html|title=The Department's History|work=An Overview of the U.S. Department of Education|page=1|date=September 2010|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=United States Department of Education|access-date=April 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200331143527/https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/focus/what.html|archive-date=31 March 2020|url-status=live}}

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 and the former United States Department of Health Education and Welfare (DHEW), now the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). In 1920, an unsuccessful attempt at creating a Department of Education, headed by a secretary of education, came with the Smith–Towner Bill.{{Cite journal|date=April 1920|title=The Smith-Towner Bill|journal=Elementary School Journal|volume=20|issue=8|pages=575–583|jstor=994235|doi=10.1086/454812|doi-access=free}}

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.[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/ewing3.htm "Oral History Interview with Oscar R. Ewing."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821024839/http://trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/ewing3.htm |date=21 August 2016 }} Oral History Interviews. Truman Presidential Library. May 1, 1969; [https://www.fda.gov/opacom/laws/reorg.htm Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1953. Title 5: Appendix: Reorganization Plans.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090512143544/http://www.fda.gov/opacom/laws/reorg.htm |date=12 May 2009 }} Transmitted to the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, March 12, 1953.

In 1979, President Carter advocated for creating a cabinet-level Department of Education.{{cite news |title= Department of Education Outlined |agency= Associated Press |date= February 9, 1979 |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IkwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5661,1224804&dq=department+of+education&hl=en |access-date= 23 October 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160307083553/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IkwNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OG0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5661,1224804&dq=department+of+education&hl=en |archive-date= 7 March 2016 |url-status= live }} 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 does not mention education, and deemed it an unnecessary and illegal federal bureaucratic intrusion into local affairs. However, others saw 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.{{cite news |title=House Narrowly Passes Department of Education Bill | agency=The New York Times | location=Washington | publication-place=Spokane, Washington | work=The Spokesman-Review | date=July 12, 1979 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lGsjAAAAIBAJ&pg=7077,5962023&dq=department-of-education&hl=en |access-date=23 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513043257/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lGsjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HO4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7077,5962023&dq=department-of-education&hl=en |archive-date=13 May 2016 |url-status=live }}

In 1979, the Office of Education had 3,000 employees and an annual budget of $12 billion.{{cite news |title=Federal Education Branch Is Foundering, Leaderless |first=Fred M |last=Hechinger |agency=New York Times News Service |date=September 3, 1979 |location=Lexington, North Carolina |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_zUgAAAAIBAJ&pg=6849,7247406&dq=department-of-education+senate&hl=en |access-date=23 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307092129/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_zUgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qVEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6849,7247406&dq=department-of-education+senate&hl=en |archive-date=7 March 2016 |url-status=live }} Congress appropriated to the Department of Education an annual budget of $14 billion and 17,000 employees when establishing the Department of Education.{{cite news |title=Education Department Created |agency=United Press International |date=October 18, 1979 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0sZUAAAAIBAJ&pg=1984,3959160&dq=department+of+education&hl=en }} 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,{{cite journal | last=Clabaugh | first=Gary K. | date=Summer 2004 | title=The educational legacy of Ronald Reagan | department=The Cutting Edge | journal=Educational Horizons | publisher=Pi Lambda Theta | volume=82 | issue=4 | issn=0013-175X | pages=256–259 | jstor=42926508 | id={{ERIC|EJ684842}} | url=http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ684842.pdf | access-date=2 May 2024}} but in 1988, 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.{{Cite news |date=January 9, 1988 |orig-date=dateline Jan. 8 |title=Reagan Asks Increase for Education in '89 Budget |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/09/us/reagan-asks-increase-for-education-in-89-budget.html |work=The New York Times |page=28 |edition=National |id=Factiva [https://global.factiva.com/redir/default.aspx?p=sa&NS=16&an=NYTF000020050426dk1900agb&drn=drn:archive.newsarticle.NYTF000020050426dk1900agb&cat=a&ep=asi NYTF000020050426dk1900agb], [https://global.factiva.com/redir/default.aspx?p=sa&NS=16&an=nyta000020011117dk19003nm&drn=drn:archive.newsarticle.nyta000020011117dk19003nm&cat=a&ep=asi nyta000020011117dk19003nm]. {{Gale|A175820082}}. {{ProQuest|110637452|426722255|110604112}}. |agency=AP}}

The 1980 Republican Party platform 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,{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/backgrounders/department_of_education.html|title=Online Backgrounders: The Department of Education|date=Fall 1996|publisher=PBS|access-date=2005-07-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107065647/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/backgrounders/department_of_education.html|archive-date=7 November 2013|url-status=dead}} but he was not able to do so with a Democratic House of Representatives. 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."

In 1984, the GOP dropped the call for elimination from its platform. 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|date=February 2022}}

In 1994, after the Newt Gingrich–led "revolution" took 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 its 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 seek to abolish the Department of Education.{{cite web|url=http://workingcalifornians.com/2008_presidential_issues/education|title=Education|year=2007|access-date=2007-09-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117185409/http://workingcalifornians.com/2008_presidential_issues/education|archive-date=17 November 2007|url-status=dead}}

The George W. Bush administration 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.{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=3970818|title=Ron Paul Unplugged|date=2007-12-10|publisher=ABC News|access-date=2008-01-30|author=Stossel, John|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209020218/https://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=3970818|archive-date=9 December 2008|url-status=live}}File:Department of Education - NCLB door.jpeg. The structures were temporary and were removed in 2008. Source: U.S. Department of Education{{cite web|url=http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2002/04/04112002a.html|title=Paige Fields Team to Leave No Child Behind|date=April 11, 2002|publisher=United States Department of Education|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030924230508/http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2002/04/04112002a.html|archive-date=September 24, 2003}}]]

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.{{citation |url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/elimination-lost-what-happened-abolishing-department-education|title=Elimination Lost: What happened to abolishing the Department of Education?|date=2004-02-11|publisher=Cato Institute|quote=This article originally appeared in National Review Online on February 11, 2004.|first1=Veronique | last1=de Rugy | first2=Marie | last2=Gryphon|access-date=February 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207081957/http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/elimination-lost-what-happened-abolishing-department-education|archive-date=7 December 2013|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|last1=Young|first1=Michelle D.|last2=Winn|first2=Kathleen M.|last3=Reedy|first3=Marcy A.|date=2017-10-13|title=The Every Student Succeeds Act: Strengthening the Focus on Educational Leadership|journal=Educational Administration Quarterly|volume=53|issue=5|pages=705–726|doi=10.1177/0013161x17735871|s2cid=149148569|issn=0013-161X}}

In March 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law {{USBill|110|H.R.|584}}, which designates the ED Headquarters building as the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building.{{cite web |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070323-6.html |title=President Bush Signs H.R. 584, Designates U.S. Department of Education as the Lyndon Baines Johnson Federal Building |date=2007-03-23 |access-date=2012-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721032706/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070323-6.html |archive-date=21 July 2011 |via=National Archives |work=whitehouse.gov |url-status=live }}

In December 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act, which reauthorized the Elementary Secondary Education Act, which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act.{{Cite web |date=January 14, 2025 |title=Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) |url=https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/laws-preschool-grade-12-education/every-student-succeeds-act |access-date=March 24, 2025 |website=U.S. Department of Education}}

The department's 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.{{Cite web |date=2021-06-15 |title=What the New PISA Results Really Say About U.S. Schools|url=https://www.future-ed.org/what-the-new-pisa-results-really-say-about-u-s-schools/ |access-date=2024-11-14|website=future-ed.com |language=en}}

In March 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order which would begin the dismantling of the Department of Education, seeking to fulfill decades of conservative ambition to eliminate the agency, but raising new questions for public schools and parents. The White House earlier said the agency would continue to oversee "critical function" like student loans.{{Cite web |last=Liptak |first=Kevin |last2=Serfaty |first2=Sunlen |date=March 20, 2025 |title=Trump signs executive order to begin dismantling Education Department, raising questions for students and parents |url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/20/politics/education-department-trump-executive-order/index.html |access-date=March 22, 2025 |website=CNN}} In April 2025, Linda McMahon announced that the Department of Education would resume garnishment of the wages of student debtors whose loans are in default.{{Cite web |last=Blackburn |first=Piper Hudspeth |date=2025-04-21 |title=Education Department to resume collecting student loans in default {{!}} CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/21/politics/education-department-resume-collecting-student-loans-default/index.html |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=CNN |language=en}}

{{Further|Executive Order 14151}}

In February 2025, the Department of Education established an "end-DEI" portal to take complaints about DEI programs in schools. The administration also warned of cuts in federal funding for universities that continued with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.{{cite web |last1=Singh |first1=Kanishka |date=February 27, 2025 |title=US launches 'end DEI' portal for public complaints about diversity in schools |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-launches-end-dei-portal-public-complaints-about-diversity-schools-2025-02-28/ |access-date=March 2, 2025 |website=Reuters |publisher=Reuters}}

{{Main|Education policy of the second Donald Trump administration#Actions against universities}}

{{See also|2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses|Detention of Mahmoud Khalil}}

In March 2025, the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights announced that 60 universities were under investigation for allegations of violations related to antisemitism. The investigations were sent under the authority of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act which bans any institution receiving federal funds from discriminating on race, color and national origin. The investigations came during mounting pressure on university administrations to rein in pro-Palestine protests and the Trump administration canceling $400 million in grant funding and contracts to Columbia over alleged failure to quash antisemitism on campus. Columbia was named as one of the universities under investigation along with Northwestern University, Portland State University, University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, and four other Ivies.{{Cite web |last=Wolfe |first=Karina Tsui, Elizabeth |date=2025-03-11 |title=Department of Education investigating 60 colleges and universities over antisemitism claims |url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/10/us/department-of-education-warning-universities-title-vi-antisemitism/index.html |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=CNN |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Lonas Cochran |first1=Lexi |title=Education Department says 60 universities under investigation for antisemitism |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5186555-department-of-education-antisemitism-investigation/ |access-date=11 March 2025 |work=The Hill}} This was followed by an investigation of 45 universities for allegedly using racial preferences.{{cite web |title=Office for Civil Rights Initiates Title VI Investigations into Institutions of Higher Education |url=https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/office-civil-rights-initiates-title-vi-investigations-institutions-of-higher-education-0 |access-date=15 March 2025 |website=www.ed.gov |publisher=US Department of Education}}

Republican attempts to close the agency date back to the 1980s. Dan Bauman, and Brock Read, "A Brief History of GOP Attempts to Kill the Education Dept" Chronicle of Higher Education (June 21, 2018) Partisanship over the department has been rife since the start, from progressive-leaning teachers' unions who organized against President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" policies, to conservative Republican presidential candidates in 2016 who ran against the Common Core standards elevated by President Barack Obama's "Race to the Top" program. Closing efforts gained critical momentum during the coronavirus pandemic, after a parental rights movement grew out of a backlash to school shutdowns. There was also opposition to progressive policies that promoted certain education standards and inclusive policies for LGBTQ students which, it was contended, undermined parental rights.

Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation policy plan, deals heavily with the closure of the Department of Education,{{Cite web|url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/project-2025-and-education-a-lot-of-bad-ideas-some-more-actionable-than-others/|title=Project 2025 and education: A lot of bad ideas, some more actionable than others|website=Brookings}}{{Cite web|url=https://abc7chicago.com/post/trump-trying-to-distance-himself-from-project-2025/15046669/|title=Trump is trying to distance himself from Project 2025. Its architects helped shape his RNC platform|date=July 9, 2024|website=ABC7 Chicago}} mass privatization of public schools, and ending subsidized and free school lunches.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/house-republican-agendas-and-project-2025-would-increase-poverty-and|title=House Republican Agendas and Project 2025 Would Increase Poverty and Hardship, Drive Up the Uninsured Rate, and Disinvest From People, Communities, and the Economy | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities|date=September 3, 2024|website=www.cbpp.org}} Project 2025 also seeks to create a conservative school curriculum for all public schools.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-fafsa-student-loans-what-does-the-department-of-education-do/|title=Trump wants to dismantle the Department of Education. Here's what the agency does. - CBS News|date=March 12, 2025|website=www.cbsnews.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/how-project-2025-would-devastate-public-education|title=How Project 2025 Would Devastate Public Education | NEA|first=Tim|last=Walker|website=www.nea.org}} The plan also includes provisions for the layoffs of millions of public employed teachers. Trump's second term policies have been compared to Project 2025.{{Cite web|url=https://hechingerreport.org/what-education-could-look-like-under-trump-and-vance/|title=What education could look like under Trump and Vance|first=Sarah Butrymowicz, Ariel Gilreath, Meredith Kolodner, Jackie Mader, Neal Morton, Caroline Preston, Javeria Salman, Christina A. Samuels, Olivia Sanchez, Nirvi|last=Shah|date=August 13, 2024|website=The Hechinger Report}}

Multiple polls in February and March 2025 showed that roughly two-thirds of Americans oppose the idea. It is broadly opposed by educators who believe the federal government has historically played an important role in American education. [https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/02/department-of-education-trump-abolish-eliminate.html “Back to the States” — Trump’s Department of Education plans go against our country’s long history of federal support for schools], in Slate The position of the National Education Association (NEA), representing 2.8 million American teachers, was that stripping the department of its resources and mission would negatively impact the millions of students in low-income communities who need educational services and support.

{{Further|Second presidency of Donald Trump}}

On March 3, 2025, Linda McMahon was sworn in as the nation's 13th Secretary of Education.{{Cite web |last=Schermele |first=Zachary |title=Senate confirms Trump pick Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2025/03/03/linda-mcmahon-confirmed-as-trump-education-secretary/80513524007/ |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}} Trump emphasized that McMahon's primary objective would be to close the Department of Education, stating, "I want her to put herself out of a job."{{cite web |date=5 February 2025 |title=Trump's Education Secretary's job is to 'end the job' |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/us-news-trump-abolish-department-of-education-trumps-education-secretarys-linda-mcmahon-job-is-to-end-the-job/articleshow/117945561.cms |publisher=The Economic Times}} McMahon echoed Trump's comments, stating that the department was not needed when asked directly if the United States needed the department.{{Cite news |last=Bender |first=Michael C. |date=2025-03-07 |title=Asked if U.S. Needs Education Department, Its Head Says 'No' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/us/politics/education-department-mcmahon-trump.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=2025-03-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

On March 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing the secretary of education to "facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities".{{Cite news |last1=Leingang |first1=Rachel |last2=Lowell |first2=Hugo |date=2025-03-20 |title=Trump signs executive order to dismantle US Department of Education |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/20/trump-executive-order-education-department |access-date=2025-03-20 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{cite web |title=Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities |url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/improving-education-outcomes-by-empowering-parents-states-and-communities/ |website=The White House |access-date=March 20, 2025 |date=March 20, 2025}} However, the department cannot be closed without the approval of Congress, which created it. NBC News said, "Given their narrow majority, Republicans would need Democratic support to do that, which would make it unlikely for such a bill to pass."{{Cite web |title=White House preparing executive order to abolish the Education Department |date=4 February 2025 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/white-house-preparing-executive-order-abolish-department-education-rcna190205 |publisher=NBC News |access-date=2025-02-04 |language=en}}

{{Further|2025 United States federal mass layoffs}}

In February 2025, US Department of Education offered its staff incentives to resign or retire early.{{cite web |last1=Schermele |first1=Zachary |title=Ahead of layoffs, Education Department offers employees $25K to quit or retire by Monday |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2025/02/28/education-department-buyouts-25k/80903209007/ |website=www.usatoday.com |publisher=USA Today |access-date=2 March 2025}} In March 2025, the department announced a plan to reduce its workforce by half.{{cite web |last1=O'Donnell Adam Edelman and Tyler Kingkade |first1=Kelly |last2=Edelman |first2=Adam |last3=Kingkade |first3=Tyler |title=Education Department prepares to lay off roughly half its staff |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/education-department-lay-off-roughly-half-workforce-linda-mcmahon-rcna195038 |website=www.nbcnews.com |publisher=NBC News |access-date=12 March 2025}}

Based on a preliminary review of the layoffs that were ordered, the majority of cuts were seen in the Federal Student Aid office which oversees financial aid disbursement and student loans, and the Office for Civil Rights, which protects students and teachers from discrimination. While current Education Secretary McMahon has claimed that congressionally appropriated monies such as financial aid will not be affected by the plan to downsize or close the department, but staff turnover could create multiple problems for those receiving aid.{{Cite web |last=Schermele |first=Zachary |date=March 13, 2025 |title=Education Dept. cuts are here. What happens now to student loans, FAFSA and IEPs? |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/12/education-department-cuts-student-loan-fafsa-iep-impact/82310137007/ |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}

The Trump administration has promised that formula funding for schools, funding such as Title 1 for high poverty schools, and the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) which are protected by law would be preserved. However, nearly all statisticians and data experts who work with the program would be affected by the layoffs and downsizing of the department, as the department was downsized from over 100 people to just three workers.{{Cite news |last=Mehta |first=Jonaki |date=March 21, 2025 |title=How the Education Department cuts could hurt low-income and rural schools |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/03/21/nx-s1-5330917/trump-schools-education-department-cuts-low-income |access-date=2025-03-21 |work=NPR |language=en}}

The department oversees the lending of tens of billions of dollars in loans to students and parents and oversees the collections process of the roughly $1.6 trillion in outstanding loans for over 40 million borrowers as of March 2025. If the department were to be closed, it has been theorized by experts other federal entities such as the Treasury Department would take over the responsibilities of managing the loans.{{Cite news |last=Lieber |first=Ron |date=2025-03-20 |title=What Happens to Student Loans if the Education Dept. Closes? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/business/student-loans-education-department.html |access-date=2025-03-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} On March 21, 2025 it was announced by Trump that the management of the entire federal student loan portfolio and the other "special needs" programs overseen by the department would be moved to other departments. Trump specified that the Small Business Administration would take over responsibility for student loans and the Health and Human Services office would take on the special needs and nutrition programs.{{Cite news |last=Turner |first=Cory |date=21 March 2025 |title=Trump says Education Department will no longer oversee student loans, 'special needs' |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/03/21/nx-s1-5336330/trump-education-department-student-loans-special-education-fsa |access-date=2025-03-21 |work=NPR |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Hunnicutt |first=Trevor |last2=Mason |first2=Jeff |date=March 21, 2025 |title=Trump says Education Dept. to transfer student loan, nutrition programs to other agencies |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-small-business-administration-will-handle-federal-student-loan-2025-03-21/ |access-date=April 7, 2025 |website=Reuters}}

In a joint letter, senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and a group of Democratic senators spoke out against the mass layoffs that were seen in March 2025 and urged Education Secretary McMahon to reinstate employees that were laid off.{{Cite web |last=Jones III |first=Arthur |date=March 20, 2025 |title=Warren warns of 'dire consequences' of Education Department firings for student loans |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/warren-tells-mcmahon-firing-workers-means-dire-consequences/story?id=119954913 |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=ABC News |language=en}} Representative Bobby Scott, the ranking member on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce raised claims that the dismantling of the department would "exacerbate existing disparities, reduce accountability and put low-income students, students of color, students with disabilities, rural students and English as a Second Language students at risk".{{Cite web |last=Irwin |first=Lauren |date=March 20, 2025 |title=NAACP president: Trump 'deliberately dismantling the basic functions of our democracy' |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5205959-naacp-president-trump-deliberately-dismantling-the-basic-functions-of-our-democracy/ |access-date=March 20, 2025 |website=The Hill}}

Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the NAACP, criticized Trump's attempt to close the department while raising allegations that Trump was dismantling the basic functions of democracy.

File:US Department of Education organizational chart.gif

For 2024, the US Department of Education's budget was approximately $268 billion with $79,052,238 in discretionary spending.{{cite web |title=DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FISCAL YEAR 2024 CONGRESSIONAL ACTION (in thousands of dollars) |url=https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/about/overview/budget/budget24/24action.pdf |website=www.ed.gov |publisher=US Department of Education |access-date=2 March 2025}} The department currently holds and maintains approximately $1.7 trillion in federal student loan debt.{{cite web |title=Student Loan Debt Statistics |url=https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-statistics |website=Education Data Initiative |publisher=EducationData.org |access-date=2 March 2025}}

{{Portal|United States|Politics|Education}}

• Council for Higher Education Accreditation
• Educational attainment in the United States
• Free Application for Federal Student Aid
• FICE code
• Federal Student Aid
• Higher education in the United States
• National Diffusion Network
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• School Improvement Grant
• Student loans in the United States
• Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations

• 1965: Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
• 1965: Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) (Pub. L. No. 89-329)
• 1974: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
• 1974: Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 (EEOA)
• 1975: Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) (Pub. L. No. 94-142)
• 1978: Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment
• 1979: Department of Education Organization Act (Pub. L. No. 96-88)
• 1984: Equal Access Act
• 1990: The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act)
• 1994: Improving America's Schools Act of 1994
• 2001: No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
• 2004: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
• 2005: Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005 (HERA) (Pub. L. No. 109-171)
• 2006: Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act
• 2007: America COMPETES Act
• 2008: Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) (Pub. L. No. 110-315)
• 2009: Race to the Top
• 2009: Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act
• 2010: Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
• 2015: Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Bauman, Dan, and Brock Read. "A Brief History of GOP Attempts to Kill the Education Dept" Chronicle of Higher Education (June 21, 2018) ) [https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-brief-history-of-gop-attempts-to-kill-the-education-dept/ online]

• Berube, Maurice R. American Presidents and Education (1991) from Washington to GHW Bush

• Flanagan, Coral J., and Kenneth K. Wong. "The Administrative Presidency and PK‐12 Education Policy: Student Rights and Oversight During the Trump and Biden Era." Public Administration Review (2025)[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/puar.13939 online].

• Garhart, Margaret Anne. "Deep Cuts and Wishful Thinking": The Reagan Administration and the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act, 1981-1988" (PhD Dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2023) [https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=case1671043559546293&disposition=inline onlune].

• Graham, Hugh Davis. The Uncertain Triumph: Federal Education Policy in the Kennedy and Johnson Years (U of North Carolina Press, 1984). [https://archive.org/details/uncertaintriumph0000grah/page/n6/mode/1up online]; narrow focus on political maneuvering
• Gritter, Matthew. "Passing a Bill “Nobody Especially Cared About": The Creation of the Department of Education." Congress & the Presidency 51#1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1080/07343469.2024.2311416

• Heffernan, Robert V. Cabinetmakers: Story of the Three-Year Battle to Establish the U.S. Department of Education (2001), {{ISBN|978-0595158706}}
• Kursh, Harry. The United States Office of Education: a century of service (1965) [https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesoffi0000kurs/page/n6/mode/1up online], narrative history; emphasizing 1960s
• McAndrews, Lawrence J. The Era of Education: The Presidents and the Schools, 1965–2001 (University of Illinois Press, 2006)
• Mitchell, Shayla Lois Marie. "An historical analysis of the creation of a cabinet-level United States Department of Education" (PhD dissertation, Diss. Georgia State University;  ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  2008. 3323225).
• Munger, Frank J., and Richard F. Fenno Jr. National Politics and Federal Aid to Education (Syracuse University Press, 1962). [https://archive.org/details/nationalpolitics0000fran online]
• Radin, Beryl A., and Willis D. Hawley (1988). Politics of Federal Reorganization: Creating the U.S. Department of Education, {{ISBN|978-0080339771}}
• Rivlin, Alice M. The role of the Federal Government in financing higher education (Brookings 1961) [https://archive.org/details/roleoffederalgov0000rivl_a2w9/page/n6/mode/1up online]

• Salajan, Florin D., and Tavis D. Jules. "US Education in the Age of Trumpism, Project 2025, American Isolationism, and the Global Polycrisis: Charting a New Role for Comparative and International Education." Comparative Education Review 68.4 (2024): 519-537. [https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/734036 onlinne]

• Seib, Shirley, Ed. Federal Role in Education (Congressional Quarterly, 1967)
• Smith, Darrell Hevenor. The Bureau of Education Its History Activities and Organization (1923) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.87944/page/n7/mode/1up online]
• Sniegoski, Stephen J. "A Bibliography of the Literature on the History of the US Department of Education and its Forerunners". (1988). [https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED304394.pdf online]
• Stallings, D. T. A brief history of the United States Department of Education, 1979–2002 (Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, 2002). [https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=87890571d93e26c2a0c84bdb0a0e9a99774474f5 online]
• Warren, Donald R. To Enforce Education: A History of the Founding Years of the United States Office of Education (Wayne State University Press, 1974), a leading scholarly history; [https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20140858M/To_enforce_education online]
• Warren, Donald R. "The U.S. Department of Education: A Reconstruction Promise to Black Americans". Journal of Negro Education 63:4 (February 1974), pp. 437–51. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2966702 online]

• {{citation | title=Examining the Policies and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Education. Hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor. U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, First Session (April 10, 2019) | date=2020 | url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED606237 | id={{ERIC|ED606237}}}}

{{Sister project links |auto=yes}}

• {{Official website}}
• [https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-education Department of Education] on USAspending.gov
• [https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/education-department Department of Education] in the Federal Register
• [https://www.usgovernmentmanual.gov/Agency?EntityId=8ghEuYRf8O8=&ParentEId=+klubNxgV0o Department of Education] | United States Government Manual
• [https://www.gao.gov/agencies/department-education Department of Education] reports and recommendations from the Government Accountability Office
• [https://openomb.org/agency/department-of-education Department of Education] apportionments on OpenOMB
• [http://www.ericdigests.org/ ERIC Digests] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416165920/http://www.ericdigests.org/ |date=16 April 2021 }} – Informational digests on educational topics produced by the U.S. Department of Education before 1983.

{{United States Department of Education}}

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