The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 provided federal aid to tackle inequity in public schools

Federal government supports—but doesn't run—K-12 schools

The Department of Education contributes about 8% of K-12 funding and administers targeted grants, civil‑rights enforcement, research, and data collection. Crucially, it is legally prohibited from directing curriculum, personnel decisions, or instructional content, leaving that control to states and districts.

The first federal student loan program began in 1958

As the Cold War heated up, federal officials recognized the need to provide financial aid to students pursuing degrees in areas critical to national security, like science, math, and engineering. These programs evolved to broadly support the general population, both increasing access to college while acting as a driver of increased costs. This six-part series takes a deep dive into the history of federal student aid.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act improved the lives of many children with disabilities

Before the IDEA, many individuals lived in state institutions and received little education—only one in five attended public schools. Today, US public schools now educate over two-thirds of children with disabilities in general education classrooms.

Title IX was signed into law in 1972

Title IX of the Education Amendments Act, signed into law by President Richard Nixon on June 23, 1972, prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs. In its five-plus decades, it's been credited with increasing the number of women enrolled in college and shaping the modern world of women’s sports.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed segregation and discrimination nationwide

The Civil Rights Act, signed into law in 1964, prohibited racial segregation in public accommodations and ended discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment, while also strengthening protections in education. It established protections enforced across federally funded programs.

A 1975 law let tribes run their own programs instead of relying on federal bureaucracies

The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act allowed tribes to contract directly with the federal government to administer their own health, education, and social services—reversing policies from the "termination era."

The Federal Transit Administration distributes roughly $20B annually to support local transportation

Created by the Urban Mass Transportation Act in 1964, the FTA funds and oversees the roughly 2,200 transit systems that receive federal support across the US, covering everything from subway capital investment to rural bus service.

15 states offer school voucher programs, serving nearly 350,000 students

Voucher programs direct public K–12 funding to families in the form of tuition grants for private schools and are typically targeted to low-income or special-needs students.

School integration is designed to improve student outcomes

This American Life follows a Missouri district’s court-ordered integration program that dramatically improved achievement gaps, revealing how desegregation remains an effective yet underused education reform.

A comprehensive state-by-state report of LGBTQ+ rights in America

The State Equality Index (SEI) is a comprehensive state-by-state report that provides a review of statewide laws and policies that affect LGBTQ+ people and their families. The SEI rates all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. in six areas of law. Each...

Private education offered an alternative for Black Americans

The early public school system was ostensibly designed for all Americans, but it was also racially segregated, offering substandard schools for Black Americans. Some private schools were founded to combat that problem, including St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, the United States' oldest predominantly Black Catholic high school.

Massachusetts passed the first compulsory education law as early as 1642

The legislation required families to instruct children in religious and colonial law. By 1852, Massachusetts mandated that all children ages 8 to 14 attend school. By 1918, every state had a similar law.

In 2025, President Donald Trump signed an order shrinking the Department of Education

On March 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure” of the U.S. Department of Education, though complete dismantlement requires congressional approval.

US teachers' earnings have declined since 2010

Although teachers are among the nation’s most educated workers, they earn far less on average than most other highly educated workers. More than 95% of elementary, middle and high school teachers have a bachelor’s degree or more. In 2019, the average earnings of elementary and middle school teachers with a bachelor’s degree or more who work full-time, year-round was $53,800. For high school teachers, it was $57,840.

The Safe Drinking Water Act protects tap water for Americans

Passed in 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act requires the EPA to set and enforce national standards for public water systems. It regulates contaminants, funds infrastructure improvements, and ensures that communities nationwide have access to safe and clean drinking water.

The 2025 budget bill significantly increased ICE's budget and role in federal law enforcement

The 2025 'Big Beautiful Bill' allocated $170B to immigration and border enforcement for use through 2029. ICE's nearly $100B share includes substantial increases in detention capacity and operational scope. The increased funding will make ICE the most heavily funded federal law enforcement agency.

Plessy v. Ferguson legalized segregation until Brown v. Board of Education overturned it

In 1896, the Supreme Court upheld racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine, enabling decades of discrimination. This explainer traces how Brown later ruled school segregation unconstitutional and reshaped civil rights law.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Why the SEC was started

The Securities and Exchange Commission was created during the Great Depression to restore public trust in financial markets after the 1929 crash. Established in 1934, it enforces transparency, investigates fraud, and protects investors by requiring companies to disclose accurate information and holding violators accountable.

Energy Star certifies efficiency to help Americans save energy and cut emissions

Launched by the EPA in 1992, the Energy Star program identifies appliances, buildings, and electronics that meet high efficiency standards. It has helped consumers save over $500B in energy costs and prevent 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Why endowments took off at the turn of the century

After the Civil War, economic growth boosted philanthropy, much of it ending up in universities and colleges. Charles Eliot, the longtime president of Harvard, realized a university’s success was determined by how much money it could hold in the endowment. His approach to endowments radically changed their role in the modern university.

Congressional funding for asteroid detection has long seen bipartisan support

Although asteroid detection is mandated by law, the NEO Surveyor telescope, which is specifically designed to detect asteroids, received more than twice the funding requested by NASA in 2023.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

At 18, Eleanor taught immigrant children in one of New York's poorest neighborhoods

After finishing school in London, Roosevelt returned to New York and volunteered at a settlement house on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side, working directly with immigrant families living in poverty.

Trump's 2025 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' expanded access to health savings accounts

After the "One Big Beautiful Bill" took effect, Medicare users with bronze or catastrophic level health plans, as well as certain medical care membership models and telehealth users, became eligible for HSAs. Supporters of HSAs say expanding access to this savings program is more effective in alleviating high consumer costs than subsidizing healthcare plans or direct treatments.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

Tinker v. Des Moines affirmed that students maintain the right to free speech at school

In 1969, the Supreme Court ruled that two Iowa teenagers had the right to wear black armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War, establishing that students retain First Amendment protections in public schools.

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

In its famous catalog, Sears sold $600 DIY house kits from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in an estimated 100,000 'Sears and Roebuck homes.'

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

In recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.