Department of Education Organization Act

Department of Education Organization Act

Long title	An act to establish a Department of Education, and for other purposes.
Enacted by	the 96th United States Congress
Citations
Public law	Pub. L.   96–88
Statutes at Large	93  Stat.   668
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 210 by Abraham Ribicoff (D–CT) on January 24, 1979 Committee consideration by Senate Governmental Affairs Passed the Senate on April 30, 1979 (72–21) Signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 17, 1979
Major amendments
No Child Left Behind Act of 2002

The Department of Education Organization Act is a United States federal law enacted in 1979, which created the Department of Education. The new department was split off from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which the Act also renamed the Department of Health and Human Services. ^[1]

Purpose

Under the Department of Education Organization Act, the department's mission is to: ^[2]

• Strengthen the federal commitment to assuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual;
• Supplement and complement the efforts of states, the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the states, the private sector, public and private nonprofit educational research institutions, community-based organizations, parents, and students to improve the quality of education;
• Encourage the increased involvement of the public, parents, and students in federal education programs;
• Promote improvements in the quality and usefulness of education through federally supported research, evaluation, and sharing of information;
• Increase the accountability of federal education programs to the president, the Congress, and the public.

Voting

In the Senate, 69 voted in favor and 22 voted against separating education from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. ^[3] In the House of Representatives, 215 voted in favor and 201 voted against. ^[4] President Carter signed the bill on October 17, 1979. ^[1]

Notes

1. "Education Department Created". United Press International. October 18, 1979. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012.
2. Mission. Education Department. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
3. Allen, Ira R (September 25, 1979). "New Education Division Facing Trouble In House". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. United Press International.
4. "Department of Education Approved by House". Associated Press. September 28, 1979.

External links

• United States Department of Education official website
• About ED - Overview of the U.S. Department of Education
• How the Department of Education Is Organized
• Copy of the original Department of Education Act (P.L. 96-88; 93 Stat. 668), History of Federal Education Policy website
• 20 USC Sec. 3402, full text of the act as currently in force
• ERIC Digests Archived 2021-04-16 at the Wayback Machine - Offers full-text access to public domain ERIC Digests produced by the U.S. Department of Education