United States Department of Education
Seal of the US Department of Education
Department overview
Formed	October 17, 1979
Preceding agency	United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Jurisdiction	Federal government of the United States
Employees	5,000 (2007)
Annual budget	Discretionary: $62.6 billion (2009) ARRA Funding: $96.8 billion
Agency executives	Arne Duncan, Secretary Anthony W. Miller, Deputy Secretary
Child agency	Click here
Website
www.ed.gov

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education building, ED headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for (the) Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. Created by the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88), it was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 17, 1979 and began operating on May 4, 1980.

The Department of Education Organization Act divided the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare into the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. The Department of Education is administered by the United States Secretary of Education.

It is by far the smallest Cabinet-level department, with about 5,000 employees. The agency's official acronym is ED (and not DOE, which refers to the United States Department of Energy.)

[edit] Establishment

Department of Education is to create programs to generate funds for education and enforcement of privacy and civil rights laws.

On March 23, 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law H.R. 584, which designates the ED Headquarters building as the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building.^[2]

• Office of Communications and Outreach (OCO)
• Office of the General Counsel (OGC)
• Office of Inspector General
• Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs (OLCA)
• Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
• Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
  • National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
    • National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
    • Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)
• Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII)
• Office of the Chief Financial Officer
• Office of Management
• Office of the Chief Information Officer
• Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development
  • Budget Service
• Risk Management Service

Chief Operating Officer

Office of the Under Secretary (OUS)

• Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE)
• Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE)
• Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA)
• President's Advisory Board on Tribal Colleges and Universities (WHITCU)
• President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (WHIHBCU)

Office of the Deputy Secretary (ODS)

• Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)
  • Office of Migrant Education
  • President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans
• Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA)
• Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)
  • National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
  • Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
  • Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)
• Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools (OSDFS)
• Office of Innovation and Improvement

Associated federal organizations

• Advisory Councils and Committees
• National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB)[3]
• National Institute for Literacy (NIFL)[4]
• Federal Interagency Committee on Education (FICE)

Federally aided organizations

• Gallaudet University
• Howard University
• National Technical Institute for the Deaf

[edit] Opposition

President Ronald Reagan promised during the 1980 presidential election to eliminate the Department of Education as a cabinet post,^[1] but he was not able to do so with a Democratic House of Representatives. In the 1982 State of the Union Address, he pledged:

Throughout the 1980s, the abolition of the Department of Education was a part of the Republican Party platform, but the administration of President George H. W. Bush declined to implement this idea.

In 1996, the Republican Party made abolition of the Department a cornerstone of their campaign promises, calling it an inappropriate federal intrusion into local, state, and family affairs.^[2] The GOP platform read:

During his 1996 presidential run, Senator Bob Dole promised, "We're going to cut out the Department of Education."^[3]

In 2000, the Republican Liberty Caucus passed a resolution to abolish the Department of Education.^[4]

In 2008, presidential candidate Ron Paul campaigned in part on an opposition to the Department.^[5]

[edit] No Child Left Behind

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 are temporary and were to be removed in 2007. Source: U.S. Department of Education, ^[1]

Under President George W. Bush, the Department primarily focused on elementary and secondary education, expanding its reach through the "No Child Left Behind" law. The Department's budget increased 69.6% between 2002 and 2004.^[2]

[edit] FICE Code

As with other federal agencies, the ED operates with the assistance of several advisory committees. The Federal Interagency Committee on Education (FICE) is known in higher education for originating the FICE code, the six-digit institutional identifier assigned to each higher education (two-year and above) institution.

[edit] Budget

For 2006, the ED discretionary budget was US$56 billion and the mandatory budget contained $23.4 billion. Currently, the budget is $68.6 billion, according to the Dept. of Education website.

[edit] See also

• Educational attainment in the United States
• Education in the United States
• Department of Education
• Secretary of Education
• Office of Federal Student Aid
• Free Application for Federal Student Aid
• Council for Higher Education Accreditation

[edit] References

Cabinetmakers: Story of the Three-Year Battle to Establish the U.S. Department of Education. Author: Robert V. Heffernan. 2001. ISBN: 9780595158706

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: United States Department of Education

• United States Department of Education Official Website
• How is the Department of Education Organized
• ERIC Digests - Informational digests on educational topics produced by the U.S. Department of Education before 1983.
• Proposed and finalized federal regulations from the United States Department of Education

v • d • e Agencies under the United States Department of Education Secretary of Education Office for Civil Rights · Institute of Education Sciences Deputy Secretary of Education Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools · Office of Innovation and Improvement · Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services · Office of English Language Acquisition · Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Under Secretary of Education Office of Federal Student Aid · Office of Vocational and Adult Education · Office of Postsecondary Education · White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities Programs National Center for Education Statistics · National Library of Education · National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research · Office of Migrant Education • Education Resources Information Center · National Assessment of Educational Progress Independent Organizations Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance · National Institute for Literacy · National Assessment Governing Board · National Board for Education Sciences · White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities · White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans