When President Trump staged an elaborate White House signing of an executive order last week aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, Ohio鈥檚 Republican governor, Mike DeWine, was sitting in the front row, his face lit up with an approving smile.
There can be no question that DeWine, in his second and final term as governor, heartily approves of Trump鈥檚 stated goal of returning authority over public education to the 50 states.
We know this because during his time as governor, he relied on his GOP friends in the Ohio General Assembly to reduce the role of the elected Ohio Board of Education to next to nothing and consolidate power in an Ohio Department of Education and Workforce that lives in the governor鈥檚 office.
No wonder he left the Oval Office smiling.
鈥淚 joined President Trump and several fellow governors at the White House in support of the president鈥檚 proposal to return education back to the states,鈥� DeWine said in a statement on X. 鈥淏y giving states more authority over education, we will have the flexibility to focus our effort on tailoring an educational experience that is best for our children and meets Ohio鈥檚 needs, rather than trying to chase federal priorities.鈥�
But even DeWine 鈥� an as enthusiastic supporter of state control over education as there is 鈥� can't tell you exactly what doing away with the U.S. Department of Education, which provides Ohio school districts an average of 10% of their funding, will mean for Ohio.
After the White House ceremony, DeWine told reporters there's much that's not yet known about the potential closing down the of U.S. Department of Education.
鈥淚鈥檓 sure every governor of every state probably has the same attitude 鈥� what we don鈥檛 know is a lot of things,鈥� DeWine said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know 鈥� will the amount stay the same? We don鈥檛 know whether it will come back in any kind of different form.鈥�
We know what the Department of Education does now. It administers about $910 million in Pell Grants for underprivileged students. It provides $1.5 billion to Ohio schools through programs like Title 1 to help low-income and special needs families.
We also know, from DeWine, that his government priority for whatever federal dollars are returned to the state will be the Title 1 programs.
鈥淚 certainly believe that Title 1, for example, which is focused on our most poorest children - if we are given that money we鈥檙e certainly going to focus on those children,鈥� DeWine said. 鈥淐hildren with a disability, we鈥檙e certainly going to focus on them as well.鈥�
But DeWine and the Republican-led legislature have made it clear that they're committed to helping private schools through 鈥渟chool choice鈥� vouchers rather than in funding public education.
The state budget DeWine submitted to the legislature recently has $100 million in cuts to public education and almost $500 million for private school vouchers. The GOP legislature is likely to cut even more from public school funding.
Public school advocates say the uncertainty over what will happen with federal dollars is harming Ohio families with children in public schools 鈥� especially at a time when state spending on private school vouchers is exploding.
鈥淚f it were your child who is medically challenged and needs Title 1 assistance, you would be very concerned about the future,鈥欌�� said Julie Sellers, president of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers. 鈥淎nd you should be.鈥�
The Ohio Supreme Court鈥檚 March 1997 ruling in the DeRolph case declared that Ohio鈥檚 school funding system was unconstitutional, mainly because it over-relied on property taxes to fund public schools.
鈥淗ere we are, 28 years ago, almost to the day, when the DeRolph decision came out and the legislature has done nothing about it,鈥� Sellers said. 鈥淣othing, that is, except expanding school vouchers to the point where they are doing serious damage to public school systems.鈥�
The amount of public dollars being spent on private school vouchers in Hamilton County alone exploded from nearly $12.5 million in 2023 to $58 million in 2025 鈥� a 365% increase in one year.
鈥淚n a time of tax abatements, in declining revenues for the state, my fear is this is going to harm public schools in rural counties as much as in the big urban counties,鈥欌�� Sellers said. 鈥淢ainly because both of them have high poverty rates.鈥�
For public education, Sellers said, 鈥渋t is the death of a thousand cuts.鈥�
It was the uncertainty over state funding for public education and the potential death of the U.S. Department of Education that motivated Sarah Beach, mother of two kids at Gamble Montessori School and associate pastor of Westwood United Methodist Church, to organize Wednesday's Fountain Square rally protesting state budget cuts to education.
鈥淚 saw Governor DeWine at the president鈥檚 signing of the executive order to dismantle the Department of Education,鈥欌�� Beach said. 鈥淢y first thought was, 鈥榳hy are you standing next to him on this?鈥欌��
鈥淎ll of this money pouring into school vouchers and yet, at my kids鈥� school, they have to have a GoFundMe drive to buy math books,鈥欌�� Beach said. 鈥淭here is something wrong with this picture.鈥�
It is time, she said, for people to speak out in favor of strengthening public education, not weakening it.
鈥淭hese are our children we are talking about,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淭heir futures should not be used as a political tool.鈥�
