20 U.S.C. § 3402: Congressional declaration of…

Summary

Creates a Department of Education to serve the public and help the federal government manage education more effectively. It has seven main goals: make education equally available to everyone; support and work with state and local schools, colleges, private and nonprofit groups, research and community organizations, parents, and students to raise quality; encourage public, parent, and student involvement; support and share research and evaluations; coordinate federal education programs; improve efficiency and cut unnecessary paperwork and duplication; and make programs answerable to the President, Congress, and the public.

Title 20, §3402

Education, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Congress declares that the establishment of a Department of Education is in the public interest, will promote the general welfare of the United States, will help ensure that education issues receive proper treatment at the Federal level, and will enable the Federal Government to coordinate its education activities more effectively. Therefore, the purposes of this chapter are—

(1)to strengthen the Federal commitment to ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual;

(2)to supplement and complement the efforts of States, the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the States, the private sector, public and private educational institutions, public and private nonprofit educational research institutions, community-based organizations, parents, and students to improve the quality of education;

(3)to encourage the increased involvement of the public, parents, and students in Federal education programs;

(4)to promote improvements in the quality and usefulness of education through federally supported research, evaluation, and sharing of information;

(5)to improve the coordination of Federal education programs;

(6)to improve the management and efficiency of Federal education activities, especially with respect to the process, procedures, and administrative structures for the dispersal of Federal funds, as well as the reduction of unnecessary and duplicative burdens and constraints, including unnecessary paperwork, on the recipients of Federal funds; and

(7)to increase the accountability of Federal education programs to the President, the Congress, and the public.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 96–88, Oct. 17, 1979, 93 Stat. 668, known as the Department of Education Organization Act, which enacted this chapter, amended section 928, former 929, 1102, 2390, 2711, and 3012 of this title, section 19 of Title 3, The President, section 101, 5312, and 5314 to 5316 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, section 2, 9, and 11 of the Inspector General Act of 1978, formerly set out in the Appendix to Title 5 (see 5 U.S.C. 402, 422, 424), section 1004 of Title 21, Food and Drugs, and section 761b, 794c, 821, 829, 873, 879, 882, 914, and 952 of Title 29, Labor, and enacted provisions set out as notes under section 1102 and 3401 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 3401 of this title and Tables.

§3402 Congressional Declaration of Purpose