Understanding the Role and Responsibilities of the Department of Education

Federal agencies in the United States, like all institutions of democratic government, should serve the people and the common good. Education is an essential service — indeed, a cornerstone of democracy. The establishment of the Department of Education as a Cabinet-level agency in 1980 emphasized the federal government’s commitment to, and our national prioritization of, education.

States are primarily responsible for education, but the Department of Education is the federal agency that plays a vital role in establishing policies, ensuring accountability and promoting equal access to education. Understanding the responsibilities of the Education Department is an important step in addressing current threats to education rights and equal opportunities. So what are the responsibilities of the Department of Education that affect our lives, communities and nation?

Education is not merely an individual endeavor for career or economic gain. Improving educational excellence and outcomes for all students benefits our communities, nation and shared future. A rising tide does indeed lift all boats.

The Department of Education

Overview of Federal Agencies: As part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, federal agencies carry out the functions of the national government, with significant responsibilities that affect the public.

These agencies make up the federal bureaucracy, which is divided into cabinets, independent agencies and government corporations.
Federal agencies develop regulations and practices that interpret the laws enacted by Congress and are the part of federal government that people interact with and are affected by in everyday life.
In general, federal agencies are the part of government that provides help and services to the public, regulate the economy, and provide protections from domestic and foreign threats.

Every child in the United States has a right to an equitable public education. And while the ideas of equity (fairness and justice) and equality (same opportunities) in schooling readily lend themselves to discussion of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the road toward equal opportunity in education began before this crucial Court decision and continues today.

The Department of Education has a long history within the federal government dating to the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, when President Andrew Johnson signed legislation in 1867 to create a Department of Education. For over 100 years, education as a national priority and the department shifted in various incarnations within other federal agencies. But to have a coherent education agenda, especially as the nation became a global power, the commitment to a specific federal agency for education became essential.

Education Department Purpose: In 1980, under President Jimmy Carter, Congress established the current Department of Education as a Cabinet-level agency with the purpose:
“(1) to strengthen the Federal commitment to ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual;
(2) to support more effectively States, localities and public and private institutions in carrying out their responsibilities for education;
(3) to promote improvements in the quality and usefulness of education through federally supported research, evaluation, and the sharing of information;
(4) to improve the management and efficiency of Federal education activities;
(5) to increase the accountability of Federal education programs to the President, the Congress, and the public;
(6) to encourage the involvement of the public, parents, and students in Federal education programs;
(7) to improve the coordination of Federal education programs.”

The mission of the Department of Education is “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.”

The department approaches its mission in two ways:

First, the secretary of education and department act in a leadership capacity through “ongoing national dialogue over how to improve the results of the education system for all students.”
Second, the Department of Education administers a wide range of programs in education that span pre-kindergarten through post-graduate work. Many of these programs are established as part of education legislation that sets goals as well as stipulations for states to receive federal funding for education.

The secretary of education, like all federal agency leaders, is appointed by the president with the oversight of the Senate, which “should ensure that qualified officers are chosen for the important work of government that affects us all.” The person in this position, therefore, should hold the highest qualifications and experience as an educational leader with expertise to lead the dialogue on improving the education system and meeting the needs of all students.

The Education Department’s 17 offices play specific and vital roles in fostering educational excellence.

“Investing in [children] is not a national luxury or a national choice. It’s a national necessity. If the foundation of your house is crumbling, you don’t say you can’t afford to fix it while you’re building astronomically expensive fences to protect it from outside enemies. The issue is not are we going to pay — it’s are we going to pay now, up front, or are we going to pay a whole lot more later on.”

— Marian Wright Edelman

Facts To Know:

In fiscal year 2024, the Department of Education spent $268 billion, which is just 4% of U.S. federal spending.
At the beginning of 2025, the Education Department had 4,133 employees, one of the smallest Cabinet departments in the federal government.
The department’s elementary and secondary school programs (K-12) serve over 18,000 school districts and over 49 million students.
In 2021, 91% of adults in the U.S. age 25 and older were high school graduates (an increase from 70% in 1981 and 34% in 1950).
The Education Department is the largest source of loans for college students. In 2021, the total U.S. population age 25 and older who completed a bachelor’s degree or higher was 37.9% (compared to 17% in 1981).

Five High-Impact Responsibilities of the Education Department

Through research and data on the effectiveness of programs and policies, ensuring equal access to education, addressing key educational issues, helping to establish policies and distributing funds, the Education Department’s offices and programs touch the lives of over 50 million students in K-12 and higher education.

Five key responsibilities of the department stand out as examples that affect lives and promote educational excellence for a more competitive future. The following provides an overview of those specific high-impact Education Department responsibilities.

1. Fund research and new approaches to improving education that provide high-quality data, statistics and evaluation to inform education policies and practices.

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the Education Department office with the mission to “provide rigorous evidence on which to ground education practice and policy.” IES shares research and evaluation information in formats that are useful and accessible to educators, parents, policymakers, researchers and the public. IES centers that support education research include:

The National Center for Education Research supports “rigorous research that addresses the nation’s most pressing education needs, from early childhood to adult education.”
The National Center for Special Education Research supports “a comprehensive program of research to expand the knowledge and understanding of children and youth with or at risk for disabilities, from infancy through postsecondary education.”
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance “conducts unbiased, large-scale evaluations of education programs supported by federal funds; provides training and coaching to states, districts, and institutions of higher education to support their improvement goals; and encourages the development and use of research and evaluation in education systems throughout the United States.”
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the “federal statistical agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on the condition of U.S. education — from early childhood to adult education — to help improve student outcomes.”

To pursue excellence in education, research into the science of learning and the statistics to evaluate education programs are crucial components to answering the question of how well the U.S. is educating children and what we can do to improve that education.

2. Ensure equal access to education and civil rights protections for all students.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is the Education Department office that ensures equal access to education and promotes educational excellence through enforcement of federal civil rights laws in schools that receive the department’s funding.

The OCR has authority to investigate education civil rights discrimination and retaliation complaints based on:

race, color, national origin, or ancestry (Title VI)
sex or gender (Title IX)
disability (Section 504 and Title II)
age (Age Discrimination Act of 1975)

The Office for Civil Rights also plays a role in collecting data through the Civil Rights Data Collection survey, which collected data on equal access to educational opportunities for over five decades. This data helps to understand and inform compliance with civil rights laws enforced by OCR.

The federal government has at its disposal many tools with which to help protect the civil rights of our youth, including partnering with the Department of Justice. These tools include data collection and dissemination, policy guidance documents and budget requests, among others. By providing guidance to states and districts, the Education Department can shape the way that schools handle a variety of challenges to ensure equal access and protections for students.

3. Improve education outcomes for students with disabilities with programs that ensure equal access to education and support student needs.

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) provides a variety of programs authorized by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that improve results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities. About 7.5 million students receive services as mandated by IDEA.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), passed by Congress in 1990, is the important federal law that establishes the education rights of children with disabilities. IDEA — which replaced the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975) — took the necessary step of focusing on the individual rather than the condition to ensure that every student has access to a quality education. The six pillars provide a framework for meeting the needs of each individual student.

Individual Education Plan (IEP) serves as a means of documenting an eligible student’s academic achievement and how the student’s disability can affect their learning in the general education curriculum. The IEP further specifies necessary accommodations and modifications to be provided to meet the needs of the individual child.
Free and Appropriate Public Education provides educational services that meet the standards of the state educational agency. These services are provided through public funds and are in conjunction with the IEP to meet the needs of the individual learner.
Least Restrictive Environment requires that students with disabilities be educated with children who do not have disabilities in a general education setting to the maximum extent that is appropriate. It allows for separate classes or learning spaces only if satisfactory education in mainstream classes cannot be achieved with supplemental services, such as paraprofessionals.
Appropriate Evaluation mandates that a variety of evaluation measures be used in identifying students who may be eligible for services and to document their learning to achieve their educational goals.
Parent/Teacher Participation provides for families and caregivers to work together with school personnel as part of the IEP team. The IEP team should engage in regular communication to provide updates and input about the child.
Procedural Safeguard allows for families, caregivers and school personnel to challenge any decisions they feel are not appropriate for the student. These safeguards include processes and procedures such as access to information and dispute resolution. To help prevent school pushout, as part of the dispute guidelines students can stay in a school during the resolution process.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a federal law that protects the rights of individuals with disabilities in activities and programs that receive federal funding. It prohibits exclusion of participation or denial of benefits of a program or activity based on a disability. While similar to an IEP, a 504 Plan does not need to be updated annually. 504 Plans primarily provide accommodations for students to access the general curriculum, but do not provide for special education services.

4. Improve education for all students by closing the gap in education outcomes for students from families with low incomes and those experiencing poverty.

The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) supports states, districts and other organizations to meet the diverse needs of every student from kindergarten through grade 12.

In recognizing the power of education to address poverty, President Lyndon Johnson sought to improve reading, writing and math for families from low-income communities with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) as part of the War on Poverty.

Title I under ESEA awarded more federal funding to states that increased the state funding to schools serving students from low-income households and those experiencing poverty.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) under President Barack Obama was the amended reauthorization of the ESEA. In 2021, federal Title I grants for economically disadvantaged students was $15.6 billion, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Allocations of these funds are based on U.S. Census data, poverty rates, and local education agency data often represented by the number of students in the Free and Reduced Lunch program. Other rules for state and district allocations, however, can also impact the distribution to schools.

5. Fund and support higher education access and opportunities for students to ensure the nation’s future global competitiveness.

Federal Student Aid (FSA) is the Education Department office that manages programs authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965, including financial aid for students attending higher education programs. Federal student aid is available for individuals seeking a degree from institutions of higher education. Student aid can come through student loans or grants depending on individual situation. The Education Department is the largest source of loans for college students (e.g. 28.6% of undergraduate students received federal loans in 2022-2023 academic year).

Federal Pell Grants are funds awarded to undergraduate students who display exceptional financial need. Since 1972, Pell Grants have supported millions of students to achieve a college education. In academic year 2023-2024, 6.53 million students received Pell Grant support. Award amounts can vary (on average about $4,800, with maximum just over $7,000), and are designed to help with the costs of higher education including tuition, books, housing and meals, and other education-related needs.

The Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) works to strengthen the capacity of colleges and universities to promote reform, innovation, and improvement in postsecondary education.

Federal TRIO Grants and Programs identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. There are eight programs that vary in scope and aim “to assist low-income, first generation college students, and individuals with disabilities progress through academic pipeline from middle school to postbaccalaureate programs.” TRIO grants are awarded to institutions of higher education and agencies that serve disadvantaged youth and schools.

The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) administers and coordinates programs that are related to adult education and literacy, career and technical education, and community colleges. OCTAE helps students obtain academic and technical skills in preparation for “high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand occupations in the 21st century global economy.”

Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) “supports programs that help adults get the basic skills they need including reading, writing, math, English language proficiency, and problem-solving to be productive workers, family members, and citizens.

The Department of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL) oversees programs supported by the AEFLA through grants that support the administration of these life-changing programs.

These five high-impact responsibilities of the Education Department offer a snapshot of how the department directly affects the lives of millions of students in the U.S. The president’s executive actions in 2025 to undermine and tear down the department threaten a critical federal agency for safeguarding education and holding states accountable for ensuring equal opportunities for all students. Understanding the role and responsibilities of the Education Department can help us recognize the damaging impact of actions to dismantle the department and help us formulate strategies to ensure equitable public education in communities.

“A key role of the Department of Education is to ensure civil rights protections for all students including children of color and students with disabilities, providing much-needed funding to rural and low-income schools and student populations that struggle the most. And it’s worth noting that these actions [to dismantle the Department of Education] will also deprive millions of students the opportunity for a higher education.”

— Margaret Huang, president and CEO, SPLC

REFLECTION AND ACTION

Effecting Change in Your Community

State and local control over education means education is a community resource and a lever for change.

1. Stay informed about how the Department of Education is altering policy and practice.

Are the policies and practices in step with our democratic values and the purpose of education to foster thoughtful and engaged individuals? Do policies seem to target particular groups or resources?

2. Research and consider federal funding.

How do federal funding policies and programs affect local control of public education? Have local programs or policies changed as a result?

3. Consider accountability.

Given the role and responsibilities of the Department of Education, what does it mean to hold the department and the federal government accountable to all learners?
Should the secretary of education be required to have teaching experience in public schools? How might teaching experience, or lack of it, affect the perspectives of the secretary of education? What other qualifications should a secretary of education have?
The Senate has a key oversight to ensure federal agency leaders appointed by the president are qualified. Research the actions of your state’s senators and determine whether they upheld this important responsibility or simply voted in support of a party agenda. How can we hold members of Congress accountable?

4. Envision public education excellence and equal access for your community.

There is no single policy, strategy or program that will make public education perfect. What should equitable and thriving public schools look like in your community? How do public education excellence and equal access impact the community in short- and long-term ways?

5. Take action.

Contact your state’s senators and representatives, and urge them to support the work of the Department of Education and fully fund public education for all students.
Attend school board meetings or contact your local representative voicing your perspectives or concern for local education policy and programs. School board members can hold school and district leaders accountable for protecting all learners.
Organize family and stakeholder groups to work together towards public schools that uplift all learners to be active and engaged members of their community.

The Learning for Justice resource “Advocating for Public Education” has additional recommendations for advocacy and building coalitions for action in your community.

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