Texas Department of Education

The Texas Department of Education, which is also be referred to as the Texas Education Agency, or TEA, has responsibility for the public school system in the State. The Texas Department of Education has existed since it was established in 1949 and is headquartered currently in offices located in the William B. Travis State Office Building, located at 1702 North Congress Ave. in Austin. The main authority over the Texas Department of Education is Commissioner of Education Robert Scott. The Education Commissioner presides over the State Board of Education. This governing body of the Texas Department of Education has fifteen members, each of whom holds terms lasting for four years.

The Texas Department of Education has administrative areas of responsibility, including funding issues related to the State’s public school system, as well as the direction of the curriculum taught to Texas students, such as through the educational materials used in schools. The Texas Department of Education has an area of responsibility split into 20 different districts.

In one of these, the Harris County Department of Education functions as a non-profit group which is provided with taxpayer funds in order to assist the education of Texas students in this area. The Harris County Department of Education has been a part of the Texas Department of Education public school system since 1889. The Harris County Department of Education administers around 1500 employees. County School Superintendent John E. Sawyer administers the Harris County Department of Education out of the organization’s main HCDE Administration offices in the Ronald W. Reagan Building.

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