Two of the most important federal streams for financing public schools are:
- Title I that provides money to support areas that serve lower-income communities. In 2023, the education department received More than $ 18 billion For the title I.
- Idea (Law on the Education of People with Disabilities), which provides money to help areas serve students with disabilities. During the financial 2024, the department received more than $ 15 billion For an idea.
Both funding streams were, similar to the department itself, created by individual acts of Congress: Title I was signed in the law in 1965 and the idea was signed in the law in 1975. They could not be canceled except by Congress. The big changes in the two are unlikely as the money enjoys wide bilateral support.
The department has no power over what is taught in schools
Over the years, Donald Trump has sworn to get rid of America’s schools from such ideas as “excitement“And the theory of the critical race. And he has said that he will close the education department to return “all education and educational work and needs countries.” In fact, it already depends on countries to determine what is being taught in classrooms.
“It is not the federal government’s business to participate in the curriculum or staff hiring,” says Kenneth Wong, Professor of Education Policy at Brown University.
“The law for each student succeeds (ESSA), who had entered into force during the tail of Obama’s years, really clearly exposed (this).”
Wong points out that the ESA is partly shaped by fears that his predecessor, no child left behind (NCLB), has not dealt with the government. When NCLB was re -authorized in the form of ESSA, the law made it clear that it was up to the states to determine what was taught in classrooms.
Financial Aid Management at College and Federal Student Loans
The Education Department is not only responsible for the management of the federal student loan portfolio, which amounts to approximately $ 1.6 trillion debt on a student loan, but also responsible for the mechanism that gives students access to financial assistance in college: Free application for college: Federal Student Aid or FAFSA.
More than 17 million current and ambitious students fill FAFSA each year to qualify for student loans, grants and more. For many, this is the only way to receive help with college payment.
Students who eventually take loans become part of the mass student loan portfolio of the department, which is managed by the Federal Student Student Defense service (FSA). FSA “provides approximately $ 120.8 billion in grants, work research and loan every year to help students and their families pay for college or career,” according to the office websiteS This includes $ 33 billion for Pell grants for low -income students.
The FSA also runs the servicing loan employees, external companies that hire to work directly with borrowers on their loan payments, among other things.
Collecting data in colleges and students
Department supports and collects data From every college, university and technical and professional program, which participates in the federal student assistance program. This allows taxpayers and families to be able to analyze, compare and track things such as admission of students, academic results, graduation rates, admissibility of need -based assistance and others.
Track the students’ achievements through the national map of the report
The education department also manages the national assessment of educational progress (NAEP) or the “National Reports Card”. It is considered to be the gold standard of students’ achievement tests in topics such as reading, mathematics and science.
The evaluation, which was appointed by the Congress, in fact preceded the Ministry of Education: the federal government began to administer the test in 1969, a decade before the establishment of the department.
The report card of the nation has long served as a simple criterion for the achievement of students and has been a particularly valuable tool through and since then pandemic years. In addition to the shedding of light on how many ground students have lost academically, It also helped the country trace the chronic absences, poverty levels and the educational experience of students. Data generated by NAEP are then used by teachers, politicians and researchers to work to improve K-12 education across the country.
