The Department of Education manages the federal investment in education and leads the nation’s long-term effort to improve education. Established as a separate department in 1980, Education’s mission is to ensure equal access by the nation’s populace to education and to promote improvements in the quality and usefulness of education. For fiscal year 1995, Education was appropriated $32.4 billion and authorized 5,131 FTE positions to administer and carry out its 240 educational assistance programs, including aid to distressed schools through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, support for technical training through the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act, support for special education programs for the disabled, and support for higher education through subsidized and unsubsidized loans and grant programs. Although Education only became a department in 1980, its field structure dates back to 1940 when the Office of Education had its own representatives in federal regional offices to assist in administering federal education laws. Historically, the major function of these offices has been to help local administrators understand federal education legislation and obtain available federal funds for education purposes. The Department of Labor’s mission is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of U.S. wage earners; improve their working conditions; and advance their opportunities for profitable employment. In carrying out this mission, Labor—established as a department in 1913—administers and enforces a variety of federal labor laws guaranteeing workers’ rights to work places free from safety and health hazards, a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, and freedom from employment discrimination. Labor also protects workers’ pension rights; provides for job training programs; helps workers find jobs; and tracks changes in employment, prices, and other national economic measurements. Although Labor seeks to assist all Americans who need and want to work, special efforts are made to meet the unique job market needs of older workers, economically disadvantaged and dislocated workers, youth, women, the disabled, and other groups. In fiscal year 1995, Labor had a budget of $33.8 billion and was authorized 17,632 FTE positions to administer and carry out its activities. In fiscal year 1995, the Department of Education had 72 field offices and the Department of Labor had 1,074. These field offices were located in 438 localities across the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and two territories (see fig. 1). Concentrations of offices are found in the 10 federal region cities, where a total of 279 Education and Labor field offices are located, with a total of 5,987 staff (see table 1). About 245 localities had a single Education or Labor field office, and 148 localities had between two and five offices (see fig. 2). Six of Education’s 17 major components maintained field offices (see table 2). Each of the six Education components with field offices had an office in all 10 federal region cities. In total, 94 percent of Education’s field staff were located in these 10 cities. The concentration of Education’s field offices in the federal region cities is a reflection of the role of Education’s field structure, which is principally to ensure the integrity of grant and loan programs and to ensure that federal programs are equitably accessible. For example, the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) formulates policy and oversees the student loan program and other sources of federal support for postsecondary students and schools. The OPE field offices carry out technical assistance, debt collection, and monitoring activities that affect students, institutions, contractors, lenders, and guaranty agencies. The mission of OCR is somewhat different in that its responsibility is to enforce civil rights laws in the nation’s schools. Its regional offices carry out these functions. Two-thirds of the Department of Education’s staff was located in headquarters in fiscal year 1995. Of Education’s 5,131 authorized FTE positions, 4,835 were actually used and 1,501, or about 31 percent of this amount, were used to support Education’s field operations. Staff usage for three components—OCR, OIG, and OPE—taken together represented 90 percent of Education’s field strength in fiscal year 1995. OCR and OIG used the preponderance of their staff resources in their field offices— about 80 percent for OCR and 68 percent for OIG (see fig. 3). OPE had about a third of Education’s total field staff positions. In fiscal year 1995, 1,074 field offices supported 17 of Labor’s 26 components (table 3). Of Labor’s total authorized staffing of 17,632 FTEs, about 63 percent (11,095) were allocated to field offices. Labor’s field offices were in a total of 437 localities across the nation. About 21 percent (229 offices) of Labor’s field offices and 42 percent of on-board field staff were located in the 10 federal region cities; together these offices were supported by 4,486 staff. Most of Labor’s components with field offices had more than half of their staff resources assigned to the field (see fig. 4). MSHA has the highest proportion of its staff positions in the field, 91 percent, to inspect mines and protect the life and health of the nation’s miners. Similarly, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had about 82 percent of its staff positions allocated to its field offices. ESA had 84 percent of its 3,677 staff resources allocated to its 396 field offices. The concentration of Labor’s staff in its field offices reflects the primary mission of these components’ responsibilities. For example, ESA, MSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration are all focused on ensuring workers’ rights to safe, healthful, and fair workplaces through their enforcement and inspection activities. The occupational series that predominated in both Departments varied by component and were related to the mission of the component. For example, half the field staff of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services were rehabilitation services program specialists, about half the staff of OCR were equal opportunity specialists, and about 60 percent of OIG’s field staff were auditors (see table 4). Similarly, Labor’s field staff occupational series were related to a component’s primary functions. For example, in fiscal year 1995, ESA had three major subcomponents, each with a different mission; thus, a third of its staff were wage and hour compliance specialists, a quarter were workers’ compensation claims examiners, and about 20 percent were equal opportunity specialists (see table 5). Two-thirds of OSHA’s staff were safety/health specialists or industrial hygienists. Field office staff at both Departments were composed primarily of employees in General Schedule (GS) or General Management (GM) grades 11 through 13, representing about 60 percent of both Education and Labor field staff (see fig. 5). Seven percent of both Education and Labor field staff were senior managers (GS-14 and –15). Together Education and Labor spent about 1.3 percent ($867 million) of their combined budget of approximately $66 billion in support of their field operations; more than three quarters of this amount was for staff salaries and benefits. According to GSA, Education’s 72 field offices occupied about 495,000 square feet of space. Approximately 357,000 square feet of Education’s field office space was leased from private entities, while 28 percent was federally owned. In fiscal year 1995, Education spent about $112 million on field office costs such as rent and utilities, staff salaries and benefits, and other administrative costs (see fig. 6). According to GSA, Labor occupied a total of 3 million square feet of space, 2.1 million square feet of which was leased. Labor spent a total of $755 million on its field operations, mostly for staff salaries. Both Education and Labor have eliminated and/or consolidated a few field offices within the last 5 years to improve service delivery or office operations. Within Education, such restructuring activities occurred in OIG and OCR, while at Labor, ESA, the Office of the American Workplace (OAW), and the Office of the Solicitor reported that they are reorganizing their field offices and functions along with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), MSHA, OIG, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM), and the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS). In fiscal year 1995, Education’s OIG restructured its 10 regional and 11 field offices into four areas: the Northeast Area includes Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and the Division of Headquarters Operations; the Capital Area includes Headquarters Audit Region and Accounting and Financial Management staff; the Central Southern Area includes Atlanta and Chicago; and the Western Area includes Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle. The OIG reduced the amount of rented space in 10 locations to lower its leasing costs and eliminated the Baton Rouge field office and the Denver regional office as of June 30, 1996. Education’s OCR is in the process of reorganizing its headquarters division and 1 field and 10 regional offices into four mega-regions called enforcement divisions. These enforcement divisions will be (1) Enforcement Division A—New York, Philadelphia, and Boston; (2) Enforcement Division B—Atlanta, Dallas, and the new Washington, D.C./Metro office; (3) Enforcement Division C—Kansas City, Chicago, and Cleveland; and (4) Enforcement Division D—Seattle, San Francisco, and Denver. (For a more complete discussion of Education field office changes, see the component profiles in app. II.) In fiscal year 1995, Labor’s Office of the Solicitor examined its regional office structure in light of agencywide streamlining and reinvention initiatives.