The Department of Education was created by Congress in 1979 to track, manage and coordinate education programs and procedures at the federal level. Trump advisers have said they want to call on Congress to abolish the department, a move that's been floated over the years by Republicans but has always failed to gain widespread support.

Maybe because its support for students is popular with Republicans as well as Democrats. And because cutting that funding would blow a big hole in the budgets of red states.

President Andrew Johnson signed the first official Department of Education into law. Although it was not a cabinet level position, it aimed to collect educational data an