Welcome to the Budget home page of the United States Department of Education (ED). Here you'll find a wealth of information about the President's FY 2005 Budget Request for ED, including a program-by-program description of the request and highlights of what the President's request means for your State. In Budget News, we track Congressional action on the Department's budget and keep you updated on other important budget-related news. We also provide a variety of detailed budget tables on key aspects of the Department's budget, including the President's Budget Request, Congressional action on appropriations, State allocations, and historical funding levels.

ED currently administers a budget of about $63 billion per year and operates programs that touch on every area and level of education. The Department's elementary and secondary programs annually serve approximately 14,000 school districts and nearly 54 million students attending more than 93,000 public schools and 27,000 private schools. Department programs also provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to over 9.5 million postsecondary students.

That said, it is important to point out that education in America is primarily a State and local responsibility, and ED's budget is only a small part of both total national education spending and the overall Federal budget, as we explain in a primer on the Federal role in education. In addition to this historical background, we try to demystify the Federal budget process and show how it is carried out in ED.