At the time the Constitution was written, education wasn't considered a function of local government. Amendment 10 states that, "the powers not delegated to the United Sates by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people, " in other words, anything not specified in the United States Constitution is jurisdiction of the States. In that case, the Federal Department of Education is in fact, in violation of the 10th Amendment. .
The Department of Education is unconstitutional. Many Americans don't have the financial resources to put their children into private schools, and because typically both parents are working, they can't be home-schooled either. I believe that the Federal Department of Education should be gotten rid of and public schools should begin educating children with the essentials needed for their futures. .
The Federal Department of Education was created in 1979 to collect information on schools and teaching that would help the States establish effective school systems. The first major federal spending on education was caused by the launch of the first space satellite, when the government was trying to compete with the Soviet Union because it created a perception that the United States was falling behind in science and technology. The Department of Education pushed math and science to attempt to keep up with other world powers. This push on math and science is a milestone in the history of the United States. The problem with the push of math and science is that as one area flourishes another tends to decline. I believe that the areas of art, music, and dance took the fall as math and science grew. Consider what direction education would have taken if students could study what they wanted and not what the US government told them they had to study. .
The Department of Education was created with the directive to guarantee equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation.