I wonder how close DoE is to DoD. Military/national security and economic concerns have both been shaping the education system since at least the Sputnik scare. Nationalized education can always win over significant numbers of hawks and people in the commercial sectors, even if the education is only minimally competent.
The people in Education and those in the military have nada in common, except educationists will take money from any source. There is of course a desire among educationists to "nationalize" schooling, but only so they can control the agenda everywhere.