With President Donald Trump’s administration reportedly preparing an executive order to abolish the Department of Education, some people are wondering: What does the Department of Education do?
Congress established the Department of Education (DOE) in October 1979, approved by former President Jimmy Carter. Abolishing the agency would require approval by Congress.
President Carter’s successor, President Ronald Reagan, vowed to shut down the department in the 1980s, but was not able to get the plan through Congress.
“One other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states,” Trump said in a September 2023 video.
The DOE is run by the Secretary of Education in the president’s cabinet. Currently, former World Wrestling Entertainment chief executive Linda McMahon serves as President Trump’s education secretary.
What are the responsibilities of the Department of Education?
After Congress established the Department of Education, the department’s seven objectives in law are:
- Helping ensure access to equal educational opportunity for everyone.
- Support states, localities and public and private institutions.
- Promote improvements in education through research, evaluation, and the sharing of information.
- Improve the management and efficiency of federal education activities.
- Increase the accountability of federal education programs to the President, Congress, and the public.
- Encourage the public to be involved in federal education programs.
- Improve the coordination of federal education programs.
The DOE also manages federal special education programs established through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: This includes oversight of IEPs (Individual Education Programs) and 504 plans, both of which ensure students with special needs can get an education.
The department has its own office of civil rights to ensure equal access to education and promote education through enforcement of civil rights.
Another major role of the DOE is to manage the distribution of grants for need-based financial aid.
This includes Pell Grants for financial aid in undergraduate programs. The department says it provides grants, loans and work-study programs to more than 12 million students nationwide.
What is the difference between federal and state education departments?
Most of education is controlled at the local and state level. The federal government oversees education money, but directly contributes only around 8% of funding, according to the DOE’s website.
States, local governments and private groups contribute the other 92% of funds for elementary and secondary level education. The DOE provides money for education as “a means of filling gaps in State and local support for education when critical national needs arise,” according to the department.
Who is the United States Secretary of Education?
Linda McMahon, the former chief executive of World Wresting Entertainent (WWE) and wife to Vince McMahon, became President Trump’s Secretary of Education on March 3 after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a vote of 51-45.
Besides her work as a businesswoman, McMahon served on the Connecticut state board of education for a year and the Sacred Heart University Board of Trustees, according to the Associated Press.
