Frequently Asked Questions about the U.S. Department of Education

The Center for American Progress (CAP) released an article titled, “Frequently Asked Questions About the U.S. Department of Education”. This article highlights the importance of the Department of Education in ensuring all students have access to a quality education. 

Authors Paige Shoemaker DeMio and Tania Otero Martinez cover the history of the department and its present day responsibilities through five main questions:

1. Why was the U.S. Department of Education established?

2. What does the U.S. Department of Education do?

3. What does the U.S. Department of Education not do?

4. Can the U.S. Department of Education be eliminated through an Executive Order?

5. Do most high-performing countries have national level agencies that oversee and support education? 

More details can be found in the article. Sample social media content is below and if you have any questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Sample social content:

• The Department of Education serves more than 50 million children, in both public and private schools, to ensure that they all have access to a quality education. 

Check out @EdProgress’ new FAQ about the Department of Education to learn more: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-u-s-department-of-education/

• Enforcing civil rights laws, conducting high quality research & evaluation, administering federal grant programs that serve millions of students.

These are just some of the many responsibilities of the Department of Education. Learn more from @EdProgress: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-u-s-department-of-education/

• 9 out of 10 of the world’s top-performing education systems have a national level agency overseeing education. 

Learn more about the federal role in education and how the Department of Education supports students nationwide in @EdProgress’ new FAQ sheet: 

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-u-s-department-of-education/ 

If You’re Ready to Email, Make a Call, or Schedule a Visit: 

The TED Policy Committee has prepared a document with information and scripts for calling your senators and representatives. 

Open this document, grab your email, cell phone, or car keys, and get to work! 

Includes links, important steps to take to prepare, and scripts prepared to take action on several policies under fire, including Section 504, loss of research funding, and closing the US Department of Education.

CEC Legislative Action Center

The Council for Exceptional Children maintains a legislative action center that makes emailing your representatives and senators a quick task! Use these resources to send emails to our elected officials telling them to protect the Department of Education, funding for educational research, and protections available through Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act.  

CASE Advocacy center

The Council of Administrators of Special Education maintains a legislative action center. Use their resources to send letters to your senators and representatives.  

The Arc Advocacy Center

The Arc maintains a very active legislative action center focused on the rights and resources of individuals with disabilities. You can use their resources to send letters to members of Congress about policies that support the full inclusion of individuals with disabilities, such as Medicaid.

AERA Advocacy 

Have you lost funding or access to data or are you impacted by the cancellation of a contract? Make sure to provide information about the impact of the cuts HERE (IES Contract Cancellations) or HERE (Feedback on Recent Executive Orders & Impact on Education Research). 

Want something a bit more creative to post and share? 

You can use THESE slides created using the Ed Law Center for $$ and teaching positions with the student #s estimates of SET-to-student ratios in the state. 

Or maybe you want to use these slides, focused on the role of federal funding to support teacher preparation and high-quality professional learning opportunities. 

Want to focus on the functions of U.S. Department of Education? Try these slides. 

Please make sure to MAKE A COPY first before editing and revising for your needs (and then make sure to share with us!). 

If you’ve found informative content from TED or other advocacy organizations (the TED Podcast Stories of families of children with disabilities, for example), tag or @ your Senators, state representative, or committees that need to hear these stories. Twitter/X handles:

@HHSGov

@edworkforcecmet

@senateapprops

@appropsGOP

@GOPHelp

@HELPCmtDems

Or a full list of Social Media contact information

119th Congress Social Media Handles