In our latest Just the Facts video, Steve Ballmer talks the US Education System.
The US Department of Education, created in 1980, spent around 4% of the federal budget in 2024. It serves 50 million US students across 129,000 schools. 59% of its budget is spent on higher education (primarily federal student aid such as pell grants and loans). 39% went to elementary, secondary, and vocational education to fund priorities such as disadvantaged schools and special education. The disadvantaged school funding is through Title 1 programs and supports 51% of schools (26 million public school students). The Department of Education is also responsible for enforcing education laws and civil rights protections and reports data on nationwide student performance. It was the smallest cabinet agency by staff size in 2024 and in 2025, its workforce was reduced by 47% to 2,183.
Learn more:
https://usafacts.org/explainers/what-does-the-us-government-do/agency/us-department-of-education/
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