Background.

For almost a century the United States valued education enough to dedicate a special governmental office to it. The Office of Education was formed in 1867 in President Andrew Johnson's administration and was under the Department of the Interior. In 1939 the office came under the Federal Security Agency. Although the Office of Education had no direct administrative authority over the various state educational agencies, it did have specific tasks. The office conducted educational research and collected statistics and other facts about education; it administered federal grants-in-aid for vocational training in a variety of fields; and it helped in program planning with respect to school standards in administration, instruction, teacher training, and supervision. Its legal mandate was to "aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of...