United States Secretary of Education

The United States Secretary of Education is the head of the Department of Education. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet, and 16th in line of United States presidential line of succession. The United States Secretary of Education deals with Education.

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[1]
Deputy	Deputy Secretary
Salary	Executive Schedule, Level I
Website	ed.gov

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter established the Department of Education as a cabinet-level agency. Previously, Education had been handled by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, henceforth known as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Chronological list

Source^[2]

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[3]	Illinois	January 21, 2009	January 1, 2016		Barack Obama (2009–2017)
10		John King Jr.[3]	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)
Nominee		Linda McMahon	Connecticut	TBD

References

1. "3 U.S. Code § 19 - Vacancy in offices of both President and Vice President; officers eligible to act". Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
2. "The Education Secretaries Miguel Cardona Would Follow". Education Writers Association. Archived from the original on 2021-01-13. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
3. 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.