The U S. Department of Education is the agency of the federal government that establishes policy for, administers, and coordinates most federal assistance to education. It assists the president in executing his education policies for the nation and in implementing laws enacted by Congress. The Department's mission is to serve America's students -- to ensure that all have equal access to education and to promote excellence in our nation's schools.

When Congress passed Public Law 96-88 in 1979, creating the Department, it declared these purposes:

• To strengthen the federal commitment to ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual;

• To supplement and complement the efforts of states, the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the states, the private sector, public and private educational institutions, public and private nonprofit educational research institutions, community-based organizations, parents, and students to improve the quality of education;

• To encourage the increased involvement of the public, parents, and students in federal education programs;

• To promote improvements in the quality and usefulness of education through federally supported research, evaluation, and sharing of information;

• To improve the coordination of federal education programs;

• To improve the management and efficiency of federal education activities, especially with respect to the process, procedures, and administrative structures for the dispersal of federal funds, as well as the reduction of unnecessary and duplicative burdens and constraints, including unnecessary paperwork, on the recipients of federal funds; and

• To increase the accountability of federal education programs to the president, the Congress, and the public.

Although the Department is a relative newcomer among cabinet-level agencies, its history goes back to 1867, when President Andrew Johnson signed legislation creating the first Department of Education. Its main purpose was to collect information and statistics about the nation's schools. However, many people feared the Department would exercise too much control over local schools and called for its abolition. Thus, the new Department was demoted to an Office of Education in 1868.

Over the years, the office remained relatively small, operating under different titles and housed in various government agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior and the former U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (now the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

Beginning in the 1950s, political and social changes resulted in expanded federal funding of education. The successful launch of the Soviet Union's spaceship Sputnik in 1957 spurred nationwide concern that led to an increase in aid for science education programs. The 1960s saw even more expansion in federal aid to education: President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" called for the creation of many programs to improve education for poor students at all levels -- from elementary through college. The expansion of programs continued in the 1970s with national efforts to help racial minorities, women, people with disabilities, and non-English-speaking students gain equal access to education. In October 1979, Congress passed the U.S. Department of Education Organization Act, and in May 1980, the new agency began operations.

In the 1860s, a budget of $15,000 and four employees handled education fact-finding. By 1965, the Office of Education employed more than 2,113 persons with a budget of $1.5 billion. As of early 2002, the U.S. Department of Education has about 4,800 employees and a budget of $54.5 billion.