A debate is again raging in the community around Mentor Public Schools in 2026, this time over whether or not residents should support a levy on the November ballot after a previous version was defeated in the spring.
Where "culture war" issues like book bans and gendered school restrooms previously dominated the conversation several years ago, online comment sections now include disputes around district spending and the way Ohio funds its public schools.
The district says it needs more funding to avert big cuts to programming. But a levy in May meant to provide additional funding for operations, its first in a decade, failed by a wide margin, by about 8%.
The conversation in Mentor mirrors others happening in dozens of communities across Ohio, as school districts point to a state funding system increasingly leaving them with no choice but to ask voters for additional local funding.
A tough climate to seek more funding in
Across the state and country, property values have risen significantly since the pandemic, and property taxes along with them. That's led to some, including in Mentor, questioning why more funding is needed, and even spawned an attempt to ban property taxes altogether.
Board Vice President Lauren Marchaza said she understands why. Many feel squeezed by rising costs. She said her own property taxes rose by about 30%.
"I share the frustration of all of these folks out there who are wondering why that's happening," she said. "But what I also am is a public school board member. So I've got a foot on both sides of the divide. And as a public school board member, I am very frustrated about the way Ohio funds its schools, or I should say, doesn't fund its schools. So. It's very frustrating when Ohio's lawmakers choose not to fully and fairly fund public school districts."
She said state funding has not held pace with inflation. The state in the current biennial budget has kept funding flat despite the Fair School Funding Plan, a bipartisan-approved formula from 2021 that attempted to base funding more directly on the costs of education.
But Marchaza and Board President Maggie Cook said the district has recognized it needs to tighten its own belt. They spoke to Ideastream Public Media in a joint interview in early August, but stressed they weren't speaking for the entire board.
The board earlier this year approved measures to slash the district's budget by $6.6 million: cutting 31 positions, mostly through attrition; freezing pay increases for administrators; cutting budgets for things like professional development for teachers; and increasing fees for families for things like sports participation and summer camps.
The district is also working on plans to consolidate, including closing three elementary schools, although the board is still debating specifics.
Finally, the board reduced its levy ask for new operating funds by almost $4 million over the five-year life cycle of the levy, from a 4.9 mill operating levy in spring 2026 to a 3.5 mill ask this November.
A divide on the board reflects a broader divide
The levy attempt has magnified an existing divide on the board.
Mentor School Board Member Rose Ioppolo has been the lone "no" vote on the board when it sought to place levies on the ballot for the spring and fall. She declined to comment for this story but pointed to posts she's made on her school board Facebook page where she's voiced concerns about spending, arguing the district must prove to voters it's done everything it can to cut its own expenses.
But the divide on the board is deeper than that. During a board meeting Tuesday, Ioppolo left the meeting early after voicing concerns about a "hostile and intimidating professional environment" created by Superintendent Craig Heath, part of a larger alleged pattern of behavior.
Marchaza said Ioppolo's comments were "devoid of the facts" and chided Ioppolo for bringing "personnel matters" into the public meeting. Board Member Dan Hardesty described the incident Ioppolo referred to as a "verbal altercation" that Heath and Ioppolo participated equally in during an executive session.
Ioppolo said the board downplaying her concern is a sign of a larger problem.
"You want to know why we have a community that is begging for transparency and doesn't trust anybody? You want know why nobody wants to put their hard-earned money into supporting a levy? This is why," Ioppolo said.
Ioppolo was one of two board members who voted in favor of banning two books in April 2024 when dozens of residents turned out to meetings to debate cultural issues. The final vote was 3-2, with members Marchaza and Cook joining the majority in voting against banning books that some parents deemed controversial. Those in favor of the book bans objected to sex scenes in the young adult fantasy novel "Empire of Storms," and content about climate change and transgender people in the nonfiction picture book “Right Now!: Real Kids Speaking Up for Change."
Former Mentor Board Member Annie Payne joined Ioppolo in seeking restrictions on what kinds of books students can check out. Payne, a local mom who homeschools her children, said those past political and cultural divides that were the subject of many long board meetings are coming into play now in debates about the levy.
"Why do I think that these levies are failing? I think a lot of the trust has been diminished," she said.
About 57% of Lake County voted for President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, and the county supported him by similar margins in the previous two presidential election cycles. Ioppolo is the daughter of Republican Ohio Sen. Jerry Cirino, who sponsored S.B. 1 which banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Ohio public universities. She was endorsed by the right-wing 1776 Project PAC in 2023.
The local debate on spending continues
But beyond the political divide, Payne and Ioppolo both have repeatedly said the district must do more to cut back. One common sticking point they and others in online comment sections voice is how much the district contributes to administrators' retirement funds: 28% of their annual pay, instead of the minimum the state requires, 14%.
"That's a hard pill to swallow for people when you're saying, 'hey, we need you to pass this levy, but we're not willing to cut the 28% down to the state mandatory 14% that would save $700,000. Is it gonna fix everything? No, but what it does is it sends a message to the community of, hey, we hear you,'" Payne said.
Marchaza and Cook said paying more into those employees' retirement plans is meant to attract better job candidates. Marchaza said the expectation from potential hires is they would be paid a higher salary if they did not receive the boosted retirement contribution.
"If we were to pay that in salary it would cost us more in the short and the longer term," Marchaza said. "You have to pay taxes on that salary."
Meghan Schoening, a parent of three Mentor schools students who volunteers at her kids' schools frequently, said some of the opposition to the levy is due to "keyboard warriors" online who spread misinformation about the school district mismanaging funding. She also thinks the large number of retirees in Mentor is affecting school levy votes.
"They might not feel like they have skin in the game, but they do because we all want to keep our property values high. We all want to get the best bang for our buck when we're selling real estate. And having great schools is the number one factor of that. So we need to keep them there," she said, noting she will vote yes on the levy.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, John Wilson, another Mentor schools parent, said he is opposed to the levy. He said it doesn't make sense for the district to need more money when it's educating far fewer students and has already cut back on operations over the years.
"You're showing me that you're making cutbacks but needing more money to take care of less buildings. The math isn't math-ing very well for me," he said.
Broader forces at work in Mentor and beyond
Payne pointed to an increase in students attending homeschool and private-school options in Mentor as a sign of lost trust in the public school system since the pandemic.
The district's enrollment has dropped by almost 1,000 students since 2020. During that same time, the number of families homeschooling students increased from a negligible amount pre-pandemic to 136 as of the 2024-2025. And as of the 2025-2026 school year, 913 students live within the used the EdChoice school voucher to attend private schools, up from just 12 in 2020. Ohio expanded its voucher system in 2023.
Marchaza said the district's loss of students, which stretches back years, is tied directly to broader demographic trends: an aging community, and declining birth rates that are affecting the entire U.S. school system. She noted the proportion of Mentor's school-aged children attending the district is only down from 88% in 2020 to 84% in 2026.
Enrollment loss and rising costs have hit school districts hard with districts like Cleveland and Columbus closing dozens of schools recently, part of what some call "The Big Shrink."
Communities across Ohio will again go to the ballot this fall in a bid to avert major cuts to programming like Mentor. School Board President Maggie Cook said more districts could be going back to the ballot box, given the state’s approach to school funding.
"I just hope that as a parent that we put our child's education above all politics and do what's right for our children. Because we don't have anyone else coming to our rescue right now," Cook said.
If the levy doesn’t pass, she says the district will need to cut an additional $14 million from its budget.
"Unfortunately, we can't cut our way out of it and keep the quality that our community wants us to have," Cook said, noting the district again is receiving 4.5 out of 5 stars overall on Ohio's report card.
If the levy fails, that will mean cutting into the heart of the programs that Cook said make Mentor Public Schools great.
