United States Department of Education facts for kids
Seal of the United States Department of Education
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Flag of the United States Department of Education
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 Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building, Department Headquarters |
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| Department overview | |
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| Formed | October 17, 1979 |
| Preceding agencies | |
| Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
| Headquarters | Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building, 400 Maryland Avenue, Southwest, Washington, D.C., U.S. 20202 |
| Employees | 3,912 (2018) |
| Annual budget | 238.04B (2024) |
| Department executives |
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| Key document |
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The United States Department of Education is a cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services by the Department of Education Organization Act, which President Jimmy Carter signed into law on October 17, 1979.
The Department of Education is administered by the United States secretary of education. It has 4,400 employees – the smallest staff of the Cabinet agencies – and a 2024 budget of $238 billion, up from $14 billion when it was established in 1979. The 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. Its official abbreviation is ED ("DOE" refers to the United States Department of Energy) but is also abbreviated informally as "DoEd".
In February 2025, it was implied that President Donald Trump would prepare an executive order to effectively abolish or curtail the department. Elon Musk, the head of the department of government efficiency, DOGE, has publicly stated that the department no longer "exists".
Purpose and functions
Unlike the systems of many other countries, education in the United States is organized at a subnational level by each of the fifty states. Under the 10th Amendment, the federal government and Department of Education should not be involved in determining curricula or educational standards or establishing schools or colleges. The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) oversees schools located on American military bases and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Education supports tribally controlled schools. The quality of higher education institutions and their degrees are maintained through an informal private process known as accreditation, over which the Department of Education has no direct public jurisdictional control.
The department identifies four key functions:
- 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 makes 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 and works with federal partners to ensure proper education for homeless and runaway youth in the United States.
Organization
| Program | |
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| Secretary of Education | Office of Communications and Outreach |
| Office of the General Counsel | |
| Office of Inspector General | |
| Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs | |
| Office for Civil Rights | |
| Office of Educational Technology | |
Institute of Education Sciences
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| Office of Innovation and Improvement | |
| Office of the Chief Financial Officer | |
| Office of Management | |
| Office of the Chief Information Officer | |
Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development
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| Risk Management Service | |
| Deputy Secretary of Education | Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
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| Office of English Language Acquisition | |
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
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| Office of Innovation and Improvement | |
| Under Secretary of Education | Office of Postsecondary Education |
| Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education | |
| Office of Federal Student Aid | |
| President's Advisory Board on Tribal Colleges and Universities | |
| President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities | |
| Associated federal organizations | Advisory Councils and Committees |
| National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) | |
| National Advisory Council on Indian Education | |
| Federal Interagency Committee on Education | |
| Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials in Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities | |
| National Board for Education Sciences | |
| National Board of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education | |
| Federally aided organizations | Gallaudet University |
| Howard University | |
| National Technical Institute for the Deaf | |
See also
In Spanish: Departamento de Educación de los Estados Unidos para niños
- Council for Higher Education Accreditation
- Educational attainment in the United States
- Free Application for Federal Student Aid
- FICE code
- Federal Student Aid
- National Diffusion Network
- School Improvement Grant
- Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations
- National Endowment for the Humanities
 | Emma Amos |
 | Edward Mitchell Bannister |
 | Larry D. Alexander |
 | Ernie Barnes |
