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United States Secretary of Education
Seal of the Department of Education
Flag of the secretary
Incumbent Denise Carter Acting since January 20, 2025
Department of Education
Style	Mrs. Secretary (informal) The Honorable (formal)
Reports to	President
Seat	Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building, Washington, D.C.
Appointer	President with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	20 U.S.C. § 3411
Formation	November 30, 1979; 45 years ago (1979-11-30)
First holder	Shirley Hufstedler
Succession	Sixteenth
Deputy	Deputy Secretary
Salary	Executive Schedule, Level I
Website	ed.gov

The United States secretary of education is the head of the United States Department of Education. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States, and the federal government, on policies, programs, and activities related to all education in the United States. As a member of the Cabinet of the United States, the secretary is sixteenth in the line of succession to the presidency.

The current acting secretary of education is Denise Carter, serving in this role pending senate confirmation of Linda McMahon.

Function

The United States secretary of education is a member of the president's Cabinet and is the fifteenth in the United States presidential line of succession. This secretary deals with federal influence over education policy, and heads the United States Department of Education.

The secretary is advised by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, an advisory committee, on "matters related to accreditation and to the eligibility and certification process for institutions of higher education."

List of secretaries

Prior to the creation of the Department of Education in 1979, Education was a division of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Parties

  Democrat   Republican

Status

Health, Education, and Welfare

No.	Portrait	Name	State of residence	Took office	Left office	President(s)
1		Oveta Culp Hobby	Texas	April 11, 1953	July 31, 1955		Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961)
2		Marion B. Folsom	New York	August 2, 1955	July 31, 1958
3		Arthur Flemming	Ohio	August 1, 1958	January 19, 1961
4		Abraham A. Ribicoff	Connecticut	January 21, 1961	July 13, 1962		John F. Kennedy (1961–1963)
5		Anthony J. Celebrezze	Ohio	July 31, 1962	August 17, 1965
						Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969)
6			John W. Gardner	California	August 18, 1965		March 1, 1968
7			Wilbur J. Cohen	Michigan	May 16, 1968		January 20, 1969
8		Robert Finch	California	January 21, 1969	June 23, 1970		Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
9		Elliot L. Richardson	Massachusetts	June 24, 1970	January 29, 1973
10		Caspar Weinberger	California	February 12, 1973	August 8, 1975
							Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
11		F. David Mathews	Alabama	August 8, 1975	January 20, 1977
12		Joseph A. Califano Jr.	District of Columbia	January 25, 1977	August 3, 1979		Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)
13		Patricia Roberts Harris		August 3, 1979	May 4, 1980

United States Secretary of Education

Source

No.	Portrait	Name	State of residence	Took office	Left office	President
1		Shirley Hufstedler	California	November 30, 1979	January 20, 1981		Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)
2		Terrel Bell	Utah	January 22, 1981	January 20, 1985		Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
		William Bennett	North Carolina	February 6, 1985	September 20, 1988
3
4		Lauro Cavazos	Texas	September 20, 1988	December 12, 1990
							George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)
–		Ted Sanders Acting	Illinois	December 12, 1990	March 22, 1991
5		Lamar Alexander	Tennessee	March 22, 1991	January 20, 1993
6		Richard Riley	South Carolina	January 21, 1993	January 20, 2001		Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
7		Rod Paige	Texas	January 20, 2001	January 20, 2005		George W. Bush (2001–2009)
8		Margaret Spellings		January 20, 2005	January 20, 2009
9		Arne Duncan	Illinois	January 21, 2009	January 1, 2016		Barack Obama (2009–2017)
10		John King Jr.	New York	January 1, 2016	March 14, 2016
				March 14, 2016	January 20, 2017
–		Phil Rosenfelt Acting	Virginia	January 20, 2017	February 7, 2017		Donald Trump (2017–2021)
11		Betsy DeVos	Michigan	February 7, 2017	January 8, 2021
–		Mick Zais Acting	South Carolina	January 8, 2021	January 20, 2021
–		Phil Rosenfelt Acting	Virginia	January 20, 2021	March 2, 2021		Joe Biden (2021–2025)
12		Miguel Cardona	Connecticut	March 2, 2021	January 20, 2025
–		Denise Carter Acting		January 20, 2025	present		Donald Trump (2025–present)

See also

• Education in the United States
• Special education in the U.S

References

1. "3 U.S. Code § 19 - Vacancy in offices of both President and Vice President; officers eligible to act". Legal Information Institute. Retrieved July 31, 2021.
2. "Order of presidential succession". www.usa.gov. Archived from the original on September 15, 2023. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
3. Schultz, Brooke (January 20, 2025). "Trump Names Acting Education Secretary Ahead of Linda McMahon's Confirmation". Education Week. ISSN 0277-4232. Retrieved January 21, 2025.
4. Wilson, Reid (October 20, 2013). "The Presidential order of succession". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
5. "US Department of Education Principal Office Functional Statements". United States Department of Education. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
6. NACIQI Staff (November 23, 2016). "Welcome". Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI). Retrieved November 23, 2016.
7. Harris was Secretary on May 4, 1980, when the office changed names from Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to Secretary of Health and Human Services. Because the department merely changed names, she did not need to be confirmed again, and her term continued uninterrupted.
8. "The Education Secretaries Miguel Cardona Would Follow". Education Writers Association. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
9. ^ Eilperin, Juliet; Layton, Lyndsey; Brown, Emma (October 2, 2015). "U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to step down at end of year". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 23, 2016.

External links

• Official website

Links to related articles

v t e United States secretaries of education Hufstedler Bell Bennett Cavazos Alexander Riley Paige Spellings Duncan King DeVos Cardona v t e United States Department of Education Headquarters: 400 Maryland Avenue SW (Education Department Building) Miguel Cardona, Secretary of Education Cindy Marten, Deputy Secretary of Education Secretary of Education Office for Civil Rights Institute of Education Sciences (National Center for Education Statistics) Deputy Secretary of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement (defunct) Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (Rehabilitation Services Administration Office of Special Education Programs) Office of English Language Acquisition Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (Office of Safe and Healthy Students Office of Migrant Education) Under Secretary of Education Federal Student Aid Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education Office of Postsecondary Education TRiO White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans Programs National Library of Education Education Resources Information Center National Assessment of Educational Progress Independent organizations Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance National Institute for Literacy National Assessment Governing Board National Board for Education Sciences v t e Leaders of the United States federal executive departments Current Agriculture Commerce Defense Education Energy Health and Human Services Homeland Security Housing and Urban Development Interior Justice Labor State Transportation Treasury Veterans Affairs Past Commerce and Labor Health, Education, and Welfare Navy Post Office War v t e Presidential line of succession in the United States Vice President (JD Vance) Speaker of the House of Representatives (Mike Johnson) President pro tempore of the Senate (Chuck Grassley) Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) Secretary of the Treasury (David Lebryk**) Secretary of Defense (Robert G. Salesses**) Attorney General (James McHenry**) Secretary of the Interior (Walter Cruickshank**) Secretary of Agriculture (Gary Washington**) Secretary of Commerce (Jeremy Pelter**) Secretary of Labor (Vince Micone**) Secretary of Health and Human Services (Dorothy Fink**) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Matt Ammon**) Secretary of Transportation (Judith Kaleta**) Secretary of Energy (Ingrid Kolb**) Secretary of Education (Denise Carter**) Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Todd Hunter**) Secretary of Homeland Security (Benjamine Huffman**) * Ineligible to act as president • ** Ambiguity exists concerning eligibility to act as president

• 1979 establishments in the United States
• Lists of members of the Cabinet of the United States
• United States Department of Education
• Cabinet of the United States
• United States secretaries of education