Returning Responsibility to the Federal Government

total of $15,000 to spend. From those humble beginnings, the agency has grown to about 4,400 employees, and in 2012, its annual expenditures exceeded $99 billion. The department has the smallest staff of all the cabinet agencies, yet it has the third-largest discretionary budget.57

Over time, the Office of Education assumed the responsibilities of (1) administering grant funds and contracting with state departments of education, school districts, and colleges and universities; (2) engaging in educational innovation and research; and (3) providing leadership, consultative, and clearinghouse services related to education.

In 1979, after much congressional debate and controversy, the Office of Education was elevated to the Department of Education, with full cabinet-level status. A secretary of education was named, and the department officially opened in 1980.

The secretary of education has widespread visibility and influence. Besides advising the president, managing educational policies, and promoting programs to carry out those policies, the secretary can exert persuasion and pressure in political and educational circles. Over the years, secretaries of education—including William Bennett, Lauro Cavazos, Lamar Alexander, Richard Riley, Roderick Paige, Margaret Spelling, and Arne Duncan—have used the limelight to push their own brands of reform.58 Current Secretary of Education Duncan has been extremely visible as he makes the case to reauthorize the ESEA.59 The Technology @ School feature discusses Internet sources of information on the various levels of school governance.

7-4b returning responsibility to the Federal government

In 2001, Congress approved President George W. Bush’s educational reform initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which increased the federal government’s influence on education policy at the state and local levels. NCLB sought to improve lowperforming schools and to hold states and local school districts accountable for all students meeting high standards as measured by annual performance tests in reading and mathematics. Local school districts that failed to improve student performance, especially in Title I schools, were required to offer parents the opportunity to choose other public schools or make available free tutoring programs.60 Accountability pressure had superintendents, principals, and teachers scrambling to show increased test scores in reading and math to demonstrate that individual schools were making adequate yearly progress (AYP). Despite NCLB’s far-reaching implications and somewhat increased funding levels, critics faulted NCLB as an “unfunded mandate” and for usurping the authority of state and local educational agencies.61

The Obama administration’s education policy has continued under the framework of the NCLB Act, but it has implemented a number of important adjustments to the law,

57NCES, Digest of Education Statistics, 2012, “US Department of Education Outlays—Table 423,” at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_423.asp (January 2015); “About ED – Overview and Mission Statement,” US Department of Education at www2.ed.gov /about/landing.jhtml (January 2015); and “About ED – The Federal Role in Education,” US Department of Education at www.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html (January 2015). 58Kenneth A. Dodge, Martha Putallaz, and David Malone, “Coming of Age: The Department of Education,” Phi Delta Kappan (May 2002), pp. 674–676; and D. T. Stallings, A Brief History of the United States Department of Education 1979–2002 (Durham, NC: Center for Child and Family Policy—Duke University, 2002) at https://childandfamilypolicy.duke.edu/pdfs /pubpres/BriefHistoryofUS_DOE.pdf. 59US Department of Education, “US Education Secretary Arne Duncan Calls for Strong Education Law That Protects All Students, Ensures High-Quality Preschool, Supports Bold State and Local Innovation,” (January 12, 2015) at www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-education-secretary-arne -duncan-calls-strong-education-law-protects-all-stude. 60Helping Families by Supporting and Expanding School Choice, US Department of Education (July 2008) at www2.ed.gov/nclb/choice/schools/choicefacts.html (January 23, 2015). 61Kimberly Scriven Berry and Carolyn D. Herrington, “States and Their Struggles with NCLB: Does the Obama Blueprint Get It Right?” Peabody Journal of Education (2011), pp. 272–290.