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Founding
founded by President Jimmy Carter to regulate and improve education standards in the US with Shirley M. Hufstedler as the first secretary of education. Early attempts to establish the department failed, leading to the office of education functioning under different departments generally just collecting statistics. -
Reagan Opposition
Ronald Reagan heavily opposed the department of education as part of a limited government agenda. He restricts spending and grants in support of an attempt to eliminate the department completely but fails in congress. -
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Education Concerns
Rising concerns about the state of education leads to more attempts to improve the learning environment at both the state and federal level. -
Senate Investigation
Investigations in the senate prove the department of education was abusing spending and had billions in losses from fraud. This would become a rampant issue throughout the next 20 years. -
Loan Reform
First student loan reform acts are passed. These offer direct federal loans as an alternative to subsidized state and private loans that are much more subject to fraud. -
Bill Clinton Education Reform
Bill Clinton signs Goals 2000 and the Improving Americas Schools Act. These laws implement standardized testing to regulate schools individually. These acts threaten revocation of federal subsides in failing schools. -
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Slow years
Very little legislation is passed during this time. Federal level fraud and funding continues and increases. Student loan debt increases. The republican party supported the elimination of the department as taxes were being wasted and the liberal agenda was focused on building reforms to later be enacted. -
No Child Left Behind
George Bush was heavily invested in education as an economic factor. Bush built the No Child Left Behind Act to improve the American literacy rate. This act made numerous improvements to the current system. Adequate yearly progress must be made by each school measured by testing. States and schools now had much more flexibility with spending. Reading Programs were built to educate teachers on and identify students who needed more help with reading. -
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More slow years
Yet another long period of time with very little action. Funding continued to increase and with the absence of any fraud reform in the NCLB act, so did abuse of that funding. Spending increased to about $68 billion in this time. During this time, support for the department was mostly bipartisan. -
Recession
The US experienced a great economic recession around 2008. This marked the beginning of rising college prices in the 2010s. As states were forced to cut funding to higher education, colleges started to charge students more for the difference. -
Extra funding
New funding for higher education amounts to about $45 billion in colleges and universities. -
NCLB waivers
Barack Obama seeks to change the NCLB act to accommodate the needs of states with specific circumstances. This leads to waivers in most states on different parts of the act. Most of these waivers were to reduce the great number of schools affected by the NCLB acts broad unrealistic standards for bad schools. This saw some opposition to standardized testing enforced by the act. -
Year of 2013 in the DoED
This year saw the closing and layoffs of hundreds of teachers and schools in attempt to improve education in better schools. These changes saw huge opposition as they disproportionately affected low income families and minorities attending the closed schools. This year did; however, see the “Fisher vs. University of Texas” case ruling the constitutionality of affirmative action to help minorities achieve greater education. -
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School Shooting Pandemic
The Sandy Hook elementary shooting would mark the long period of school shootings we currently find ourselves in. The DoED would grant relief funds throughout these times. State and federal government have made little to no progress and preventing these shootings. -
Standardized Testing Revolts
Thousands of students and teachers opt out of standardized testing in protest of rigorous testing requirements and unreasonable penalties for those that cannot meet them. President Obama responds with a limit to 2% of class time on standardized testing. -
Every Student Succeeds Act
President Obama signs the ESS act under bipartisan support in the senate to replace the NCLB act. This act was a big step back for federal involvement in schools. States now had much more control of testing, spending, and curricula. The act focuses on career and college ready education with focuses on giving information to teachers and parents. This act maintained that schools with consistently underperforming students and teachers be penalized. -
Supreme Court Special Education
the Supreme Court rules “individualized education program reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child's circumstances.” This ruling helped clear the air around the requirements of special education programs. -
Year of 2018 in the DoED
this year was full of protest from the teacher strikes in Oklahoma and West Virginia that resulted in pay increases to student walkouts in favor of strict gun laws. The DoED made no response to these protests. The President responded to these protests with claims to help that never produced any result. An act is signed to support ESS through career and technical education. -
Pandemic Season
the DoED made no significant changes or actions to assist in pandemic relief in schools. States were generally left to their own with respect to decisions on in-person and virtual classes. -
Pandemic Relief
With the new President and administration, the department of education saw a $125 billion increase in funding for reopening schools. The new secretary, Miguel Cardona, would continue to face challenges in masking and vaccinations in schools across the nation.