The United States Federal Department of Education, formerly known as the Department of Education, was founded in 1867 with a history of 130. At that time, the Education Bureau was an independent government agency with no cabinet members. Its responsibilities are very different from those of the current Ministry of Education, which is limited to collecting and sorting out information about school institutions, management, systems and teaching nationwide, and then providing the obtained information and achievements to government agencies and the public to further promote the development of national education. At that time, the education office was very small, with only three staff members except the Commissioner, and the funds were limited, about 13000 US dollars per year.

At the beginning of its establishment, the Federal Education Bureau mainly reflected the advantages and disadvantages of education in each state through information reports, introduced the achievements and innovative examples of educational practice in various places, and basically did not have the function of administrative command. 1890, after the second Moreel Act was passed, its functions were expanded, and it was responsible for managing the newly established land-granting institution system.

However, since the establishment of the Federal Bureau of Education, its functions have been controversial. In order to prevent the federal education bureau from interfering too much in the school affairs of each state, its power is greatly limited. Before 1869, the Education Bureau was an independent government agency. From 1869, the Education Bureau was changed to an office under other federal government departments: from 1869 to 1939. This institution was under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of the Interior of the federal government, and was renamed the Education Office first and then the Education Bureau. From 1939 to 1953, it is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Security Service and is called the Education Office. From 1953 to 1980, they were all under the jurisdiction of the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, then called the Education Office. From 65438 to 0972, the Federal Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare established the National Institute of Education, and the Education Office and the National Institute of Education were jointly led by an assistant minister.

As a member of the Cabinet, the Federal Ministry of Education was established during President Carter's term. At that time, Congress believed that some educational affairs in the United States could not be completed by local governments and school districts alone, and needed nationwide coordination and overall planning, such as education for the mentally handicapped, education for the disabled, literacy education, education loans and science and technology education. Therefore, it is necessary to set up a cabinet-level Ministry of Education. The new Ministry of Education officially started its work on May 4th, 1980.

198 1 year, Reagan was elected president. At this time, the Federal Ministry of Education existed for less than one year. Reagan thought it unnecessary for the federal government to set up an education department. Therefore, he proposed to Congress to abolish the Ministry of Education, reduce the number of employees in the Ministry of Education from 7,700 to 1000, terminate a number of educational projects, and transfer some of them to other ministries. However, Reagan's proposal was not accepted by Congress. This is also the reason why the Ministry of Education still exists. Nevertheless, due to Reagan's attitude towards the Ministry of Education, the work of the Ministry of Education has been affected to some extent: the number of employees has exceeded 1/3, and the projects and funds have been relatively reduced.