when did federal government get involved in education
Federal involvement in US education The first piece of federal education legislation passed by Congress was the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act. This bill was passed as a means for the Federal government to provide land proportional to the number of Congressmen and Senators a state had for states to use to create agricultural colleges.[3] The next noteworthy piece of legislation passed by Congress pertaining to education was the Smith-Hughes Act which provided federal aid to vocational education programs across the country. Through the beginning of the 20th century, the federal government had a relatively small role to play in education, and its contributions focused mainly on providing opportunities to students who would later become an important part of a well-functioning economy. This tact changed following the Great Depression and World War II though.