Quality Profile Report 2022 - Flipbook - Page 11
excellence in financial reporting
>> Mentor Public Schools earned the Certificate of
Achievement from the GFOA for Fiscal Year 21!
-Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada
Fiscal Stewardship
The leadership team uses enrollment studies to track the decline in the student population that began in 1996. This is an important financial indicator due to staffing. You may remember, peak enrollment in Mentor Schools happened in the 1990s
with more than 11,000 students in our schools compared to 7,000 (not including preschool) attending our schools today. One
way we were able to cut costs in the past was to reduce staffing numbers proportionately as student enrollment declined, but
enrollment is projected to remain steady in our community in the coming years. We are currently operating at healthy teacher-pupil ratios in order to provide the well-rounded, high-quality education the children of our community need and deserve.
The actual and expected student enrollment aligns with the district’s implementation of a Facilities Management Plan in
2018-2019, where the decision to go from operating three middle schools to two and eight elementary schools to seven was
put into effect. The need to condense schools was a result of continued declining enrollment in Mentor Public Schools and
having to make appropriate facilities adjustments as part of our commitment to fiscal responsibility with our taxpayer dollars.
The Facilities Management Plan was projected to save more than $1 million a year over the term of the five year fiscal projections.
As part of the Facilities Management Plan, the former Dale R. Rice Elementary School building was sold in April 2020 for
$400,000 and the Brentmoor Elementary School building was sold in June of 2019 for $600,000. State law requires that
proceeds from the sale of real estate be deposited into the permanent improvement fund.
Mentor Schools takes pride in its school buildings, facilities and grounds located across Mentor and Mentor-on-the-Lake.
Along with its schools, the district owns a total of 16 properties valued at $249.7 million, including both the largest indoor and
outdoor spaces with seating available for community use in Lake County. These facilities are assets to our community and are
well-maintained via a five-year Permanent Improvement (PI) plan, with projects funded based on established need.
Permanent Improvement (PI) projects and funding are currently drastically impacting our overall spending . The community
passed a PI levy in 1988 that generates about $1 million per year for capital improvements. (In terms of inflation, $1 million in
1988 would be like $384,408 today.) Mentor has aging school buildings, but we have maintained them extremely well over
the years and they are in great shape. Proper maintenance on our buildings has been a top priority because it is directly tied
to student and staff safety. Historically, the district has thoughtfully planned for PI projects on a five-year cycle to best manage the spending. But, it clearly takes more than $1 million a year to maintain our 16 properties with projects as big as
roofing, paving and windows replacements to as small as painting and cleaning. As a result, we have been appropriating general fund monies to accomplish the necessary improvements per the plan each year and that is contributing to the district’s
deficit spending. The current projection is an average of $5.3 million a year to be taken out of the general fund for the next
five years for these necessary maintenance and enhancements. At this time, we are discussing better ways to fund the district's PI projects and that may eventually include the need to ask the community for a new PI levy so that we may continue to
adequately maintain our schools and facilities.
The Board of Education, Chief Financial Officer and Superintendent aggressively pursue non-tax revenue sources including:
private grants; selling business and operations services; major corporate partnerships; cell phone towers; facility rentals;
professional development services; and more.