There’s no shortage of reasons to be deeply concerned about the educational futures of U.S. children amid calls to dismantle the Department of Education. As advocates, districts, states, and families are racing to prepare for contemporary worst case scenarios, it’s important to bear in mind the origins of our present day struggle. Politicizing universal, quality public education in 2025 harkens back to Reconstruction Era politics in the 1860s, just after the Civil War. Since the U.S. government’s first investment in public education to now, there has been a vast and storied, epic struggle over realizing a vision that has meant actual liberation to emancipated Black people. This struggle, historically championed by people of faith, has since provided on-ramps for the entire range of ethnicities present in the U.S. to receive an education today, yielding massive benefits from what originated as–and continues to be–a race and gender struggle.

What those concerned with democracy, social equity, and the well-being of marginalized communities have to bear in mind is that the concept of a quality public education for every child hasn’t been fully born yet in this country. With every step taken to implement it, there have been significant counter measures taken to subvert its success. The latest threats supported by right-wing Christian evangelicals aim to reset policy back over 150 years, when there was no federal accountability for education whatsoever. Defending the gains we have made from the threats waged by our current administration cannot be our only intent–we must continue to press forward to the full realization of the vision and promise to America’s children of universal, quality public education. This can only be achieved if the resources at the federal level are dedicated to seeing it through completely, not through dismantling the Department of Education and leaving the educational opportunities of marginalized students to state legislatures. Furthermore, strong public education is in the interest of white children and families as well – from the wealthy to those reliant on subsidies.

While there are many bolded dates that could go in a timeline related to federal education policy, the focus for this one is federal legislators making education-related policy decisions and investments. In times when priorities were decentralized, states had free reign to discriminate along race and gender lines, leading to the vastly disparate outcomes educators still contend with today. 

Reconstruction & Early Federal Role (1860s–1910s)

• 1867: The first U.S. Department of Education was created (later reduced in scope) to collect data on schools.
• Reconstruction Era (1865–1877): The Freedmen’s Bureau (established by Congress) played a direct role in establishing schools for formerly enslaved Black Americans, recognizing education as essential for citizenship.
• 1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson paved the way for southern states to mandate racial segregation in public schools.
• 1917 – Smith-Hughes Act: The first major federal funding for education, focused on vocational training.

Post-WWII & Cold War Expansion (1940s–1960s)

• 1944 – G.I. Bill: Established federal education benefits for veterans, setting a precedent for national education investment.
• 1954 – Brown v. Board of Education: The Supreme Court declared school segregation unconstitutional, forcing federal intervention in education. This coincided with a significant spike in private school enrollment, lasting through the 1960s.
• 1957 – Sputnik & the National Defense Education Act (1958): In response to Soviet advances in space, the U.S. invested heavily in math, science, and technology education to stay competitive.
• 1965 – Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA): Part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” this act marked the first large-scale federal funding for K-12 education, prioritizing low-income schools.

Modern Federal Oversight & Expansion (1980s–Present)

• 1980 – Creation of the Modern Department of Education: Under Jimmy Carter, education became a national policy priority with the first senate approved secretary of education. 
• 1983 – A Nation at Risk Report: Reagan-era report framed public education as failing, spurring the push for standards, accountability, and privatization. (This framing itself lacks accountability for how adults were failing children.)  
• 2001 – No Child Left Behind (NCLB): Under George W. Bush, this law introduced federal testing mandates, shifting the government’s role from funding to direct accountability and performance oversight.
• 2015 – Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Replaced NCLB, giving states more control but maintaining federal testing requirements.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter signed the law that officially created the U.S. Department of Education. Photo by the White House, via the National Archives

Current Snapshot: Federal Administration 2025 

The push to dismantle the Department of Education threatens the very idea of federal involvement in education and is the culmination of many decades of strategy. While there have been pushes for privatization coming from both major parties under every administration–particularly following Carter’s– there is also a long history of bipartisan support for public education at risk.

Now is as good a time as there ever has been to push for the full realization of a quality, inclusive public education system for every student. There is no pulling apart race, gender, and liberation from the existence of universal public education in the United States, making the proposed dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education a human rights issue. While the very concept of education as a human right in the U.S. is based on Black liberation, it benefits every child in the nation and beyond. To add one more critical date that unites public education struggles across the globe, Article 26 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed in 1948, enshrines the right to a free education to all. The U.S. walking back its commitment to education is already manifesting itself with the current administration freezing funding of USAID, an entity that provides access to education in partner countries. The threat domestically and to children in partner countries relying on this support cannot be tolerated.

The vision of a quality public education for all children is rooted in liberation and has global impact. We must hold firmly to this vision and press on toward its continued realization.

Takeaways

1. The federal government has been involved, since the beginning of public education in this country, in ensuring the expansion and effectiveness of caring for students. The support of the federal government is required to ensure education rights extend beyond wealthy, white males.
2. The federal government has long monitored states’ education of students, sometimes to a net positive and other times detrimentally. It is an advocate’s job to monitor the federal government’s involvement in education.
3. The Nation at Risk Report positioned the concept of public education negatively (as “failing”), allowing for conservatives to aggressively strip away resources and devote them to private educational entities.
4. The deprioritizing of public education at the federal level has international repercussions.

Resources & Citations

• Cutting School, Noliwe Rooks
• About Frances E. W. Harper
• Historical Timeline of Public Education in the U.S., Race Forward

Reconstruction & Early Federal Role (1860s–1910s)

U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Federal Role in Education. https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html

Butchart, R. E. (2010). Schooling the Freed People: Teaching, Learning, and the Struggle for Black Freedom, 1861–1876. UNC Press.

Anderson, J. D. (1988). The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935. UNC Press.

Post-WWII & Cold War Expansion (1940s–1960s)

National Archives. (2023). G.I. Bill History. https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/gibill.html

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/347/483/

Urban, W. J., & Wagoner, J. L. (2013). American Education: A History. Routledge.

Modern Federal Oversight & Expansion (1980s–Present)

U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). A Nation at Risk Report (1983). https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425 (2002). https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/1

Every Student Succeeds Act (2015). https://www.ed.gov/essa