Mentor Schools Quality Profile Report 2023 - Flipbook - Page 10
Fiscal Stewardship
Financial responsibility ensures that we receive good value for every dollar spent.
>>The Mentor Board of Educa}on is commi琀琀ed to prudent 昀椀scal management of the school district’s resources with the goal of ensuring adequate funding to sustain the strategic plan and high quality educa}on for our community’s children.
>>The Chief Financial O昀케cer’s department operates will full transparency, pos}ng all 昀椀nancial statements and records on our website
to be viewed by community members at any }me. For the second year, we produced and mailed an annual 昀椀nancial report
to all homes and businesses in the district (September 2023).
>>Our district is high-performing and our schools are a great
return on our community’s investment! We just received a
4.5 out of 5-star ra}ng from the Ohio Department of Educa}on. Locally, this ranks us third in lake county academically,
while, at the same }me, our property taxes rank third lowest
in Lake County.
MENTOR SCHOOLS ISSUES 3 & 4
has been a priority because it is directly }ed to student and sta昀昀 safety.
Historically, the district has thoughvully planned for PI projects on a 昀椀ve
-year cycle to best manage the spending and take care of our communiIssue 4 is a renewal levy, which 昀椀rst passed in 2004, that will not inty’s assets. But, it clearly takes more than $1 million a year to adequatecrease taxes. This 6.73 mill levy generates just over $15 million dollars
ly maintain our 16 proper}es with projects as big as roo昀椀ng, paving and
annually and accounts for roughly 13% of the district’s general fund revwindows replacements to as small as pain}ng and cleaning. As such,
enue. These funds will allow us to maintain our current programming
we’ve had to spend general fund monies on PI projects, which has conand are used for safety, security, direct classroom instruc}on, support
tributed to de昀椀cit spending for the district.
services (school counselors, nurses, etc.), well-rounded curricular and
Since beginning as our CFO, Mr. Wade has focused a lot of }me on the
extracurricular programs, transporta}on and daily opera}ng expenses
topic of PI funding. Looking at research from Carnegie Mellon, in a paper
(u}li}es, supplies, purchased services, etc.).
}tled Addressing Inadequate Investment in School Facility Maintenance,
The renewal levy is vital to our opera}ons. We are currently opera}ng at
we found we should expect to spend about 2% of a property’s value per
healthy teacher-pupil ra}os in order to provide the balanced, highyear in order to maintain it properly. In Mentor Schools, this would
quality educa}on the children of our community need to succeed. Loss
equate to more than $6 million needed for projects. Our current and
of these funds would nega}vely impact the educa}onal quality we have
projected PI plans have been presented annually to the Board of Educaworked so hard to protect. Again, this is a no-tax-increase levy.
}on.
Issue 3 is a new, 2.5 mil Permanent Improvement (PI) levy that would
As you know, our team has been working diligently over the years to do
generate funds to help maintain and upgrade our aging school buildings
more with less as costs naturally con}nue to go up, while our revenue
in terms of school safety improvements and necessary maintenance
essen}ally stays 昀氀at. We have implemented major cost-saving ini}a}ves
projects. This is a 昀椀ve-year levy that would cost property owners $88 per
including reducing sta昀昀 propor}onately with student enrollment, closing
$100,000 value per year and would generate just over $5.5 million a
and selling school buildings, redistric}ng, changing bene昀椀ts plans for
year, which will help ensure safe and well-maintained school buildings
employees, cu琀�ng budgets, pursuing alterna}ve revenue sources, seby funding upcoming planned projects such as roo昀椀ng, paving, windows
curing grant monies and more.
and doors and enhanced safety and security needs. PI funds can also be
We are commi琀琀ed to con}nuing to be great stewards of our communiused for buses, technology and furniture. PI funds cannot be used for
ty’s tax dollars while providing a safe learning environment where the
general fund expenses, including employee salaries and bene昀椀ts.
children of our community can learn and grow. More informa}on about
Currently the district operates with a PI levy from 1988 that generates
the district’s 昀椀nances and Issues 3 & 4 can be found on our website.
approximately $1 million annually. Proper maintenance on our buildings
At the }me of this publica}on, Mentor Schools has two levies on the
ballot for the November 2023 elec}on, Issues 3 & 4.