The United States Department of Education (also known as ED) is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. Created by the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88), it began operating in 1980.

Its functions were previously in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare which was divided into the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services when President Carter signed the Department of Education Organization Act into law on October 17, 1979. It began operation on May 4, 1980. It 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.)

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

History

Unlike the systems of most other countries, education in the United States is highly decentralized, and the federal government and Department of Education are not heavily involved in determining curriculum or educational standards. This job of centralization and coordination has been left to large private educational foundations. Rather, the primary function of the United States Department of Education is to formulate federal funding programs involving education and to enforce federal educational laws involved with privacy and civil rights. The quality of educational institutions and their degrees is maintained through an informal private process known as accreditation which the Department of Education has no direct public jurisdictional control over.

A previous Department of Education was created in 1867, but was soon demoted to an Office in 1868. Its creation a century later in 1979 was controversial and opposed by many in the Republican Party, who saw the department as unwanted federal bureaucratic intrusion into local affairs. Throughout the 1980s, the abolition of the Department of Education was a part of the Republican Party platform, but Bush Republican administrators declined to implement this idea. By the mid-1990s, with President Clinton's equal support similar to President Bush, there was little leadership for the demotion of the department.

The elevation of the Department to cabinet status was controversial. President Reagan sought to eliminate it as a cabinet post but did not go through with the threat. Under President George W. Bush, the Department has primarily focused on elementary and secondary education, through its focus on the "No Child Left Behind" law, while considerably marginalizing higher education.

 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 FICE code is a 6-digit identification code that was used to identify all schools doing business with the Office of Education during the early sixties. This code is no longer used in IPEDS; it has been replaced by the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) ID code.

Constitutional

Can someone explain how the ED is constitutional? I was under the impression that the 10th amendment limited federal powers to those explicitly laid out in the constitution. Stuff like mints, regulating currency, post offices, congress, etc... but doesnt mention regulating education which, according to the constitution, should be left up to the states, along with everything else not explicitly listed. So how can acts get passed that allow for a department of education?

anybody know how this works? 72.174.2.252 10:10, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

 Raw Material to edit into content

(How much to integrate into article? )

• The Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (www.ed.gov/offices/OELA/) administers programs designed to enable students with limited English proficiency to become proficient in English and meet challenging state academic content and student achievement standards.

• The Office for Civil Rights (www.ed.gov/offices/OCR/) enforces federal statutes that prohibit discrimination in educational programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.

• The Office of Educational Research and Improvement (www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/) supports research and demonstration projects to improve education; collects and analyzes education statistics; disseminates information on research findings and education statistics; and provides technical assistance to those working to improve education.

• The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/) provides leadership, technical assistance, and financial support to state and local education agencies for the maintenance and improvement of both public and private preschool, elementary, and secondary education. OESE administers programs designed to advance the academic opportunities of the nation's neediest children.

• The Office of Postsecondary Education (www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/) is responsible for formulating federal postsecondary education policy and administering grant programs and other initiatives that provide assistance to postsecondary education institutions for reform, innovation, and improvement. OPE is also responsible for the accrediting agency recognition process and for coordinating with the states on matters that affect institutional participation in federal financial assistance programs.

• The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/) supports programs designed to educate children with special needs; provides for the rehabilitation of youths and adults with disabilities; and supports research to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities, regardless of age.

• The Office of Federal Student Aid (www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/) administers the systems and products related to providing billions of dollars annually in federal financial aid to millions of students pursuing postsecondary education and training opportunities. The office provides information and forms for students applying for loans, grants, and work-study funds, as well as technical information for financial aid administrators, lending institutions, auditors, and others in the field. In 1998, this office became the first performance-based organization in the federal government, with increased accountability for results and greater flexibility in operations.

• The Office of Vocational and Adult Education (www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/) supports a wide range of programs and activities that prepare people for employment and that provide adults with basic skills necessary to obtain a high school diploma or the equivalent.