Morning Briefing | Local impact of Department of Education cuts

Several Ohio school programs could be affected by funding cuts from the federal government.

In today’s Morning Briefing, we about what local officials are saying about changes at the U.S. Department of Education and who would be affected the most by a loss of federal funds. We also look at what AES Ohio is telling customers about issues with their new billing system.

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The newsletter should take about 4 minutes, 11 seconds to read.

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What cuts to the U.S. Dept of Ed will do to the state

Significant cuts to the U.S. Department of Education are expected to have an impact to local schools that receive federal funding for special education and homeless student programs, support programs for teachers and principals and more.

• Downsizing: Cuts of more than 1,300 employees were announced from the U.S. Department of Education this week.

• Trump’s plan: The Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump have said the cuts and changes are an effort designed to send education authority back to states.

• Ohio federal funds: Federal funding administered through the U.S. Department of Education accounted for $1.3 billion (11%) of all public school funds in the state of Ohio last year.

• Who will be hurt by federal funding cuts? Those grants fund more than a dozen programs that support impoverished and low-achieving students, early learning and preschool, homeless children, free meal programs for hungry students, rural education, career and technical grants, neglected and delinquent children, and more than 61,000 English learners.

• Local funding: Ohio’s local school districts get significant funding from the state of Ohio and from local property taxes. That money is not controlled by the federal government.

• What they are saying: “Overall, 42 positions are either fully or partially funded by federal grant dollars,” said Megan Sparks, a board member for Centerville Schools. “It is unclear how the significant changes to the U.S. Department of Education will impact school districts.”

AES Ohio tells customers it is working to resolve payment ‘issues’

Dayton electric utility AES Ohio adopted a new customer billing system last May, and the transition hasn’t been smooth for everyone.

• Customer issues: AES Ohio says a limited number of customers have experienced issues, and most of those issues have been resolved. The company has some 527,000 customers in a 24-county area of West Central Ohio.

• Message from AES Ohio: A message on a recent bill to a customer said in part, “We are aware of a delay with some payments appearing on the payment history page. We’re committed to resolving this issue as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

• PUCO response: A spokeswoman said the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), which governs state utilities, is aware of the issues.

“The PUCO has heard from several dozen AES Ohio customers related to billing issues so far in 2025. AES has identified these different billing issues as being the result of the transfer to the new billing system. PUCO staff is aware of these anomalies for some AES Ohio customers and is actively investigating.”

• Payment arrangements: AES is also not charging late payment fees or disconnecting those impacted by any billing issues.

What to know today

• One big takeaway: The Department of Government Efficiency is seeing changes in the Buckeye State — in fact, a group of Ohio GOP lawmakers formed their own government efficiency caucus.

• Tip of the day: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, a store offering discounted, closeout and overstocked products from private-label and name-brand suppliers, has opened in Englewood.

• Big move of the day: The city of Huber Heights has entered into a development agreement with Grey Fox Capital, a precursor to the construction of a 159-townhome neighborhood in a northern section of the city.

• Dayton Food & Dining: The Dublin Pub and DEXA, formerly known as Drone Express, delivered a lunch of fish and chips via drone to Dayton Mayor Jeffrey J. Mims Jr. on Thursday. It was the first-ever restaurant drone delivery in Dayton.

• Inside Ohio Politics: State Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, said Ohio’s school children are still behind where their peers were achieving pre-pandemic. In Senate Bill 19, Brenner proposes a mandate that schools provide intervention education to all students who test as limited on English Language Arts and math state tests.

• Average Guy Outdoors: No matter where you live in the area, trout are already in or coming to a waterway near you.

• DDN investigation: How often are child care centers sanctioned in Ohio? Here’s what our investigation found.

• Vintage Dayton: Smales Pretzels can trace its roots back more than a century, and has maintained a loyal following of customers that consider it a Dayton tradition.

• Photo of the day: Photographer Nick Graham captured some amazing images of the total lunar eclipse, also known as blood moon, that was visible Friday morning. You can view them here.