COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — President Donald Trump dismantling the U.S. Department of Education is leaving Ohio leaders at odds about whether it will help or hurt our education system to have more power returned to the state.  

“I think there could be major benefits for all for Ohio,” Ohio Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said.  

“I’m concerned about that,” Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said.  

Gov. Mike DeWine took a clear stance on the issue. A spokesperson confirmed that DeWine attended the executive order signing.

“Today, I joined President Trump and several fellow governors at the White House in support of the president’s proposal to return education back to the states,” DeWine said in a statement.

“Every student, family, and community is different,” he said. “In Ohio, we’ve achieved great results by focusing on our administration’s priorities, like improving literacy achievement, ensuring all students have pathways to thrive in our workforce, and more. Now it’s time to take the next step. By giving states more authority over education, we will have the flexibility to focus our efforts on tailoring an educational experience that is best for our children and that meets Ohio’s needs, rather than trying to chase federal priorities.”

The Ohio Democratic Party criticized DeWine for attending the signing.

“Ohio’s students are our state’s future, but their elected officials are cheering as billionaires rip away their access to a quality education,” Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer said in a statement. “Today reveals DeWine, Husted & Moreno’s complete disinterest in any future that isn’t focused on their extreme politics. Our elected officials should be standing up for our students, but they can’t even stand up to Donald Trump.”

How does it all really impact Ohio?

The state’s public K-12 schools and universities receive millions, sometimes billions, of dollars a year from the Department of Education. McColley said it comes with too many strings attached.

A recent example is Title IX compliance funding.  

“It’s now basically legal bribery to the states to say you have to take this federal money and you have to do everything that we’re asking you to do, otherwise, you’re not going to get this federal money,” McColley said. “And they put us in a position where, quite frankly, the one-size-fits-all approach that’s coming down from Washington, D.C. is not working.”
  

Overall, McColley said the money from the federal government should be free for use, as prescribed by the state.  

“We would be better served to block grant that money to the state of Ohio and to all the other 49 states and basically say, ‘Look, the beauty of this country is we have 50 laboratories of democracy. Some states are going to get it right. Some states are going to get it wrong,’” he said.  

McColley said it lends itself to one “simple fact”: Ohio knows what is best for Ohio.  

“Just greater flexibility on how we’re going to spend the money in the state, I think would be helpful for everybody,” he said. “We are going to have a better idea of what Ohio education needs are than they are in Washington, D.C. That’s just a simple fact.”  

But it is not that straightforward for Antonio. Antonio said she worries about how Ohio’s Republican-led legislature would dole out the money.    

“You hear leaders say things like ‘the Fair School funding formula is just not sustainable; they need $1 billion.’ And at the same time, the same legislator leader is suggesting that we give $1 billion to private schools, religious-based schools,” she said.  

Antonio said it goes beyond the ways Ohio would choose to spend the money, but also the threat of a loss of programs, like Title 1.  

“Which provides a supplemental reading services and additional help for kids that are that otherwise would fall through the cracks,” she said.

“They don’t have enough learning problems to qualify for, to be on an individual education program or plan. But they still need some assistance, some help. And they’re identified and they’re given extra assistance.”  

Antonio said while there is no telling what will really be done, she does not trust Republicans in power in Ohio to legislate responsibly when given more power.  

“There’s a disconnect with the state of Ohio legislators in power right now who support giving money to private entities over public schools. I think that’s a problem,” she said. “I don’t think Ohio is a good example of a state going ahead in and forging ahead with its own policies when it comes to education.”  

But McColley said, when it comes down to it, he thinks this power rightfully belongs to the states.  

“Every state is going to have a better idea of what they can do with that money, better than what Washington, D.C. is having us do,” he said. “The Constitution, quite frankly, dictates that we should be the ones controlling education in our states, not the federal government.”  

“There are a lot of levers, pulleys and checks and balances that come through the Department of Education, that states left to their own devices, I worry what that means for each individual state,” Antonio said. “More importantly, I worry about what it means for our children.”  

This all comes after Ohio lawmakers majorly restructured the state’s own State Board of Education and Department of Education and Workforce.