| Post: | United States Secretary of Education |
| Flag: | Flag of the United States Secretary of Education.svg |
| Flagborder: | yes |
| Flagcaption: | Flag of the secretary |
| Insignia: | Seal of the United States Department of Education.svg |
| Insigniacaption: | Seal of the Department of Education |
| Incumbent: | Miguel Cardona |
| Incumbentsince: | March 2, 2021 |
| Department: | Department of Education |
| Style: | Mr. Secretary (informal) The Honorable (formal) |
| Reports To: | President |
| Seat: | Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building, Washington, D.C. |
| Appointer: | President |
| Appointer Qualified: | with Senate advice and consent |
| Termlength: | No fixed term |
| First: | Shirley Hufstedler |
| Succession: | Sixteenth[1] |
| Deputy: | Deputy Secretary |
| Salary: | Executive Schedule, Level I |
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.[2]
The current secretary of education is Miguel Cardona, who was confirmed by the Senate on March 1, 2021.[3]
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.[4] This secretary deals with federal influence over education policy, and heads the United States Department of Education.[5]
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."[6]
Prior to the creation of the Department of Education in 1979, Education was a division of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
| No. | Portrait | Name | State of residence | Took office | Left office | President(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oveta Culp Hobby | Texas | April 11, 1953 | July 31, 1955 2-year in Office | Dwight D. Eisenhower | |||
| Marion B. Folsom | New York | August 2, 1955 | July 31, 1958 4-year in office | ||||
| Arthur S. Flemming | Ohio | August 1, 1958 | January 19, 1961 4-years in office | ||||
| Abraham A. Ribicoff | Connecticut | January 21, 1961 | July 13, 1962 1-year in office | John F. Kennedy | |||
| Anthony J. Celebrezze | Ohio | July 31, 1962 | August 17, 1965 4-years in office | ||||
| Lyndon B. Johnson | |||||||
| John W. Gardner | California | August 18, 1965 | March 1, 1968 4-years in office | ||||
| Wilbur J. Cohen | Michigan | May 16, 1968 | January 20, 1969 1-year and 8 moths in office | ||||
| Robert H. Finch | California | January 21, 1969 | June 23, 1970 1-year in office | Richard Nixon | |||
| Elliot L. Richardson | Massachusetts | June 24, 1970 | January 29, 1973 3-years in office | ||||
| Caspar W. Weinberger | California | February 12, 1973 | August 8, 1975 2-years in office | ||||
| Gerald Ford | |||||||
| F. David Mathews | Alabama | August 8, 1975 | January 20, 1977 2-years in office | ||||
| Joseph A. Califano Jr. | District of Columbia | January 25, 1977 | August 3, 1979 2-years | Jimmy Carter | |||
| Patricia Roberts Harris | August 3, 1979 | May 4, 1980 1-year [7] | |||||
Source[8]
| No. | Portrait | Name | State of residence | Took office | Left office | President | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shirley Hufstedler | California | November 30, 1979 | January 20, 1981 2-years in office | Jimmy Carter | ||||||||
| Terrel Bell | Utah | January 22, 1981 | January 20, 1985 4-years in office | Ronald Reagan | ||||||||
| William Bennett | North Carolina | February 6, 1985 | September 20, 1988 4-years in office | |||||||||
| Lauro Cavazos | Texas | September 20, 1988 | December 12, 1990 2-years in office | |||||||||
| George H. W. Bush | ||||||||||||
| – | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | Ted Sanders | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | Illinois | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | December 12, 1990 | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | March 22, 1991 | |||
| Lamar Alexander | Tennessee | March 22, 1991 | January 20, 1993 2-years in office | |||||||||
| Richard Riley | South Carolina | January 21, 1993 | January 20, 2001 8-years in office | Bill Clinton | ||||||||
| Rod Paige | Texas | January 20, 2001 | January 20, 2005 4-years | George W. Bush | ||||||||
| Margaret Spellings | January 20, 2005 | January 20, 2009 4-years in office | ||||||||||
| Arne Duncan[9] | Illinois | January 21, 2009 | January 1, 2016. 7-years in office | Barack Obama | ||||||||
| John King Jr. | New York | January 1, 2016 | March 14, 2016 | |||||||||
| March 14, 2016 | January 20, 2017 10 months in office | |||||||||||
| – | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | Phil Rosenfelt | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | Virginia | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | January 20, 2017 | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | February 7, 2017 | Donald Trump | ||
| Betsy DeVos | Michigan | February 7, 2017 | January 8, 2021 4-years in office | |||||||||
| – | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | Mick Zais | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | South Carolina | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | January 8, 2021 | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | January 20, 2021 | |||
| – | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | Phil Rosenfelt | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | Virginia | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | January 20, 2021 | bgcolor=#E6E6AA | March 2, 2021 | Joe Biden | ||
| Miguel Cardona | Connecticut | March 2, 2021 | Incumbent | |||||||||
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