A Brief History of the United States Department of Education: 1979–2002
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A Brief History of the United States Department of Education: 1979–2002 D. T. Stallings Duke University Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University 1 Copyright © 2002 Center for Child and Family Policy Duke University Box 90264 Durham NC 27708-0264 www.pubpol.duke.edu/centers/child 2 A Brief History of the United States Department of Education: 1979–2002 “[E]ducation is a local responsibility, a state function, and a national concern.” 1 Education and the Federal Government (HEW), who began work in earnest on the formation of a department in the 1960’s. A he responsibility for the education of Ameri- second critical factor was the rapid politicization Tcan children has enjoyed at least a small of the National Education Association (NEA) presence at the Federal level since the middle of and its growing interest in a stronger Federal the 19th century, usually in the form of indepen- presence in education. In 1972, the massive union dent programs housed in separate Cabinet-level formed a political action committee, and in 1975 departments. While these early efforts were it joined forces with other unions to form the scattered among offices, various incarnations of a Labor Coalition Clearinghouse (LCC) for elec- national education office or bureau, beginning tion campaigning. Along with other members of with the first established in 1838 for gathering the LCC, the NEA released “Needed: A Cabinet statistics, slowly took root. Despite concerns Department of Education” in 1975,3 but its most about an overt federalization of education, locat- significant step was to endorse a presidential ing all of the disparate programs into a single, candidate—Jimmy Carter—for the first time in separate office and giving it department status the history of the organization.4 The NEA was became the rallying cry of a small but growing no small player in the nomination process; the minority from as early as the Reconstruction organization averaged 4,000 members per Con- period. The movement gained momentum in the gressional district, and some estimates suggest 1950’s and 1960’s as the Federal budget for that the larger LCC influenced the selection of education eclipsed the budgets of other full- over 400 of the 3,000 delegates who attended the fledged departments, and by the 1970’s, the idea Democratic National Convention in 1976.5 of an independent, Cabinet-level Department of Education was on the verge of realization. NEA support helped to put Carter in the White House in 1976, but once there it was unclear whether his Administration would follow Establishing a Federal Department of Education through on promises to consider department status for education. Education was not a top n the period between 1908 and 1975, more policy priority for the Carter team, and forma- Ithan 130 bills were introduced to form a tion of a new department ran counter to his Department of Education,2 but it took two platform of streamlining the Federal government, additional events toward the end of that period but education was important to the candidate on to transform department status for education a personal level. After much deliberation and from dream to reality. The first was the election study, Carter finally made good on his campaign to the Senate of Abraham Ribicoff, former promise and endorsed department status for Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare education.6 3 Ribicoff was quick to support the President’s across the nation.16 A third set of goals focused decision,7 and in March he and Senators on issues of educational equity.17 Finally, Magnuson, Humphrey, Pell, and Nunn8 intro- Hufstedler worked to make education important duced yet another Department of Education to the nation again, and she committed to spend- Organization Act.9 The bill went to the Govern- ing some time “go[ing] out on the stump across mental Operations Committee, where the de- bates between October 1977 and May 1978 were at times bitter and acrimonious,10 but the Com- Finally, Hufstedler worked mittee finally voted the bill to the floor, where to make education impor- 11 the measure passed. The bill did not come up tant to the nation again. for a vote in the House during the same session, and the entire proceedings began all over again the following year. This time the bill did reach the House, where it passed in a close vote. Presi- the country to elevate the consciousness of dent Carter signed the bill into law on October Americans about the good work classroom 17th, 1979,12 finally ending a struggle of almost teachers do.”18 Overall, Hufstedler envisioned a 150 years to establish a Cabinet-level Department Department that was no longer reactive but of Education. instead proactive—as she concluded at one point, “The education institutions of the U.S. must change in response to the changing needs of the Building and Preserving the Department country”19 —and in many ways this decision set (1979–1985) the tone for the continued growth and develop- ment of the Department. he Honorable Shirley Hufstedler, selected by TPresident Carter to be the first Secretary of With President Carter’s loss in the 1980 election, Education, had by law only six months to get the many of these goals remained unmet, and it Department up and running. Hufstedler also seemed possible that the handwriting was already worked quickly to establish the Department’s on the wall for the fledgling Department. Ronald agenda, combining her own goals with a panoply Reagan made it clear that abolishing the Depart- of suggestions from critics and supporters alike. ment, which he saw as an intrusion on the local One set of goals focused on streamlining and and state control of education, was high on his strengthening the political workings of the list of priorities. Though the credit for keeping Federal-state relationship. Hufstedler pledged to the Department alive during Reagan’s first term reduce regulatory red tape for all Federal pro- belongs mostly to the next secretary, Terrel Bell, grams, with a special emphasis on the complex Hufstedler’s success in her dual effort to form the forms surrounding student aid,13 and, in what Department out of nothing and to introduce the might be construed as a message to the NEA and idea of a national agenda for education established other large education organizations, she declared a platform on which her successors could build to that Federal-state-local cooperation should focus keep the Department alive. on individual students and not educational inter- est groups.14 A second set of goals reinforced the notion that the Department would not supersede local control by attempting to impose restrictive Reagan appointed Terrel H. Bell to succeed regulations.15 Instead, the Department would Hufstedler as Secretary in 1981 and charged him encourage the establishment of local-level coali- with the task of dismantling the Department, but tions and identify, promote, and disseminate as the importance and usefulness of a Federal role exemplary local “success models” that could work in education became clearer, the President grew 4 more amenable to the idea of preserving the oversaw a switch from a relatively restriction-free Department. By the end of Bell’s tenure, not only loan policy to one that required applicants to had the execution been stayed, but it seemed also demonstrate need.24 He also kept the Department that the Department would remain a fixture in from falling to the level of statistics-gatherer by the President’s Cabinet. retaining controversial research programs like the Nixon-era National Institute of Education.25 Reagan-era education policies were rooted in a These accomplishments notwithstanding, the Bell desire to return to the original intents of the administration will long be remembered for Founding Fathers with respect to education. perhaps its most significant document, A Nation Against the background of Reagan’s New Feder- at Risk (1983). In stern language, the report alism agenda and its sister Economic Recovery described a national education system responsible Program, which aimed to reduce Federal influ- for a “rising tide of mediocrity.”26 No legislation ence and return power to the states,20 the Admin- was passed as a direct result of the document, but istration planned to move the Education Depart- the conclusions did spur many states to begin the ment away from awarding categorical grants to first of several waves of reform efforts.27 A block grants, and then to eventually eliminate Nation at Risk is also sometimes credited with grants entirely until the only function of the ending the long-standing threat to dissolve the Department would be to collect statistics, as it Department. In fact, by 1984, governmentwide had done in its first incarnation.21 As bleak as discussions of budget cuts no longer included these goals sounded with regard to the future of mention of the Department’s budget, a dramatic Federal involvement in public education, Bell change in White House policy. The interest noted that he still detected some support from raised by the report helped House Republicans discover the political power of having an educa- tion plank in the Party platform and led them to call for a reversal in the Party’s traditional stand In stern language, A Nation at on Federal involvement in education for the 1984 Risk described a national educa- election year.28 Noted Bell, “After its sound tion system responsible for a defeat at the Republican National Convention, “rising tide of mediocrity.” dissolution of the Department will not, in my opinion, ever again be a serious issue.”29 the White House for key programs like the From Supporting Role to Lead Actor Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1985–1993) (ESEA) Title I program and Title III of the Higher Education Act.22 Nevertheless, by the errel Bell’s administration may have secured end of the Reagan era, many Federal programs Tthe continued existence of the Department, did experience heavy budget cuts; even Title I but William Bennett, Reagan’s next appointee, faced $7 billion in cuts, and funding for special secured its fame.