The U.S. established a Department of Education first in 1867. This original department, however, was not a cabinet level agency, and within a few years was replaced with a bureau and then an office.
On October 17, 1979 President James E. Carter signed the Department of Education Organization Act (P.L. 96-88; 93 Stat. 668). It replaced the Office of Education with a department proper, and installed a secretary at its head.
The Lanham Act (P.L. 849; 54 Stat. 1125) became law on October 14, 1940. The Lanham Act was amended (P.L. 137; 55 Stat. 361) on June 28, 1941, and the words “schools” was added to the definition of the term “public work.”
These wartime measures were replaced by two laws known as Impact Aid, P.L. 81-815; 64 Stat. 967 (September 23, 1950), and P.L. 81-874; 64 Stat. 1100 (September 30, 1950). These laws fortified the federal policy of providing federal aid to schooling in areas affected by federal governmental activities (e.g., defense installations).
Below are copies of the Lanham Act (1940), the revised Lanham Act (1941), and the two Impact Aid acts (1950).
Additional Impact Aid resources can be found here.
Lanham Act (1940)
Lanham Act Revised/Lanham Act Revised (1941)
Impact Aid I and II (1950)
On October 20, 1994, the Improving America’s Schools Act (P.L. 103-382; 108 Stat. 3518) became law.
It significantly revised the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
It was the last major alteration of the law before the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
You can dowload the full PDF of the law at https://www.congress.gov/bill/103rd-congress/house-bill/6/text.
President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB; P.L 107-110; 115 Stat. 1425) on January 8, 2002. NCLB is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).
The original ESEA was 32 pages long; NCLB —at the time of enactment— was 670 pages long.
This act (P.L. 89-10; 79 Stat. 27) was signed into law on April 11, 1965. It is the largest federal aid to K-12 schooling.
Note: When people speak of the No Child Left Behind Act, they are speaking of the 2002 revision of this 1965 law.
Federal Education Policy History 