Two of the most important federal funding flows in public schools are:
- Title I, which provides money to help the districts that serve low -income communities. In 2023, the Department of Education received more than $ 18 billion For title I.
- IDEA (individual handicaps education act), which provides money to help districts serve with disabled students. During the year 2024, the ministry received more than 15 billion dollars for idea.
These two financing flows were, like the department itself, created by distinct acts of the congress: title I was promulgated in 1965, and Idea was signed in 1975. They cannot be unrelated, except by the Congress . It is unlikely that big changes will be improbable, because money will benefit from large bipartisan support.
The department has no power about what is taught in schools
Over the years, Donald Trump has promised to rid American schools of ideas such as “stupidityAnd the critical theory of the race. And him said That he would close the Department of Education in order to return “all education and education work and need the United States”. In reality, it is already up to the States to determine what is taught in classrooms.
“It is not the federal government’s company to be involved in the staff study or hiring program,” said Kenneth Wong, professor of education policy at Brown University.
“The law on the success of all students (ESSA), which was promulgated during the end of the Obama years, is very clearly established (this).”
Wong stresses that the ESS was shaped, in part, by concerns that his predecessor, no child left behind (NCLB), hinders the government. When NCLB has been reautilized in the form of ESS, the law clearly indicated that it was up to the States to determine what was taught in classrooms.
Manage financial assistance in college and federal student loans
The Department of Education is not only responsible for the management of the federal portfolio of student loans, which amounts to approximately 1.6 billion of dollars of student loan debt, it is also responsible for the mechanism which gives the students Access to college financial assistance: free demand for students’ assistance, or FAFSA.
More than 17 million current and budding students fulfill FAFSA each year in order to qualify for student loans, subsidies and more. For many, this is the only way they can get help to pay for the university.
Students who end up contracting loans are part of the massive student loan portfolio of the ministry, which is managed by the Federal Aid Office for students (FSA). The FSA “provides approximately $ 120.8 billion in subsidies, professional studies and loans each year to help students and their families pay for the college or career school”, according to The office website. This includes 33 billion dollars in PELL grants for undergraduate students with low income and intermediate income.
The FSA also oversees student loan agents, the external companies it engages to work directly with borrowers on their loan payments, among others.
Data collection on colleges and students
The department Data maintenance and collection of each academic, academic and technical and professional program that participates in the federal student aid program. This allows taxpayers and families the ability to analyze, compare and follow things such as students’ admission, academic results, diploma rates, admissibility for needs, etc.
Followed by the success of students through the country’s bulletin
The Department of Education also oversees the national evaluation of education progress (NAEP), or the “nation bulletin”. It is considered to be the golden stallion of students’ success tests in matters such as reading, mathematics and sciences.
The assessment, mandated by the congress, is in fact prior to the Ministry of Education: the federal government began to administer the test in 1969, a decade before the creation of the ministry.
The country’s bulletin has long been a common criterion for students’ success and has been a particularly precious tool and for the pandemic years. In addition to shedding light on the amount of students on the ground has lost academically, He also helped the country to follow chronic absenteeism, poverty levels and educational experiences of students. The data generated by NAEP is then used by educators, decision -makers and researchers to work to improve kindergarten education in the 12th year across the country.
