Liberal Forum

Many will say yes. Many will say no. Let's first post some facts. There are a lot more than what I quoted, but I want to specifically focus on how it funded more impoverished area schools that otherwise would have been neglected by the states. The truthful answer to whether or not the DOE made things worse or better is impossible to know. Before the DOE, there was no way of doing any national ranking to compare us to the rest of the world. The DOE made that possible. However, the results were not pretty. 

Is this because the DOE made it worse or did the DOE just expose what was already in place? 

• Before the DOE, education policy was primarily determined by states and local school districts with minimal federal oversight.
• The DOE streamlined and centralized federal education funding to ensure that schools—especially those in underprivileged areas—received financial support.
• Examples include Title I funding (which helps schools serving low-income students) and special education funding through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
• he DOE administers federal student loans, grants, and work-study programs through FAFSA.
• Before this, college was far less accessible to lower-income students, as funding was left to states, private scholarships, and families.
• while education existed before the DOE, it was inconsistent and often inequitable across states. The DOE helped centralize funding, enforce civil rights laws, ensure data collection, and provide resources for disadvantaged students. However, many critics argue that education should remain a state and local issue rather than being influenced by federal bureaucracy.

I think this is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it allowed poorer areas more funding. On the other hand, it's usually the poor areas who are not academically proficient. Therefore, we included a mass of kids who incessantly score below average in the national ranking, where as before, they were not included. Thus, our national and world ranking has always been embarrassingly low.