ED’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. ED was created in 1980 by combining offices from several federal agencies. ED’s 4,400 employees and $68 billion budget. Education is primarily a State and local responsibility in the United States. It is States and communities, as well as public and private organizations of all kinds, that establish schools and colleges, develop curricula, and determine requirements for enrollment and graduation. The structure of education finance in America reflects this predominant State and local role.
One final note: while ED’s programs and responsibilities have grown substantially over the years, the Department itself has not. In fact, the Department has the smallest staff of the 15 Cabinet agencies, even though its discretionary budget alone is the third largest, behind only the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, the Department provides over $150 billion in new and consolidated loans annually.
– https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html
Close the department. It has outlasted its usefulness. According to the ED data there are 13,600 public school districts in the US. $68,000,000,000/13,600= $5,000,000 to each district to spend as they see fit. [By the way the 4,400 ED employees could go to work in actual districts providing education. That would provide 3 FTEs per district at a cost of approximately $350,000 of the $5 million they receive.