Page:Annual Report- U.S. Department of Education (IA annualreportusde00unit 0).pdf/6



Origins of the Department

On October 17, 1979, when President Carter signed the enabling legislation, the Department of Education took its place at the President's Cabinet table. At long last, there was a national voice for education at the highest level of government—a voice made necessary by the many issues in education today which extend beyond the reach of state and local resources, and beyond their territorial jurisdictions as well.

During the last 30 years, profound changes in economics, demographics, technology, and social and cultural policies have deeply affected the nation's schools. Global events, ranging from wars in the Middle East and Indochina to migrations from Cuba and Central America, have also had repercussions on school districts all over America. Although the federal role in education has evolved in response to each of these national and international developments, it is not new. The federal government has played an important role in education from the earliest days of the Republic.

In one sense, the Department of Education can trace its origins to the land grants the Congress made for schools under the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. From these beginnings, federal assistance evolved along several different lines over the next 200 years. Gradually today's limited but essential federal role took shape.

Assistance for disadvantaged and handicapped students began in the mid-19th century with the founding of Howard University and Gallaudet College, and culminated 100 years later in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. This landmark legislation was specifically designed to meet the needs of children from low-income families. The program has grown steadily under succeeding administrations and successive amendments. ESEA programs now serve more than 5.6 million disadvantaged elementary and secondary school children in 14,000 of the nation's 16,000 school districts.

Federal support for higher education began with the Morrill Act of 1862 (which provided land grants for state universities) and gained tremendous momentum with passage of the GI Bill during World War II. This initial effort to give financial assistance for higher education to qualified students was followed up in 1965 with passage of the Higher Education Act. As amended in 1972 and 1980, the Higher Education Act provides financial aid in the form of grants, loans, and work-study programs to more than one-half of all the postsecondary students in the United States—currently more than 3.6 million of them.

Federal assistance for vocational training traces its history to the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917. It took its current form with the Vocational Education Act of 1963. As amended in 1968 and