Mentor Public Schools

Mentor Public Schools is cutting $6.6 million from its budget for the 2026-27 school year while continuing to pay administrators' employee share of retirement contributions, a benefit worth roughly $600,000 annually to the general fund. The Board of Education rejected, 4-1, a May proposal from member Rose Ioppolo to eliminate the pickup for the district's 42 administrators, which would have shifted the 10% or 14% employee retirement contribution onto administrators themselves without cutting base pay. Chief Financial Officer Bill Wade said the savings, while real, wouldn't resolve the district's larger financial problems. Opponents cited stagnant administrator pay and recruitment concerns.

The cuts followed voters' rejection of a $13.5 million operating levy. The district returned with a smaller five-year, 3.5-mill levy request estimated at $9.6 million annually, on the ballot for Ohio's Nov. 3 general election, alongside plans for another $3.3 million in reductions for 2027-28 amid declining enrollment and possible school consolidation.