Among remembrances of former president Jimmy Carter is his signing of S. 210 on October 17, 1979, which created the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) and became operational in May of 1980.
In creating the USDE, Congress said the intention of the agency was to strengthen equal education opportunities for students and to improve the quality of education by supplementing the efforts taking place in the states and local districts.
Since its inception, there have been attempts to dismantle the USDE, but those congressional proposals have been unsuccessful. Presently, President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to eliminate the Education Department and send “all education and education work and needs back to the states.”
Source: K-12 Dive