Levy Failure Moves From Ballot Box to Kitchen Table: Mentor Families Face New Fees This Fall

Mentor families will open their student fee statements this fall to find charges that didn't exist last year — the direct cost of a levy defeat now landing on household budgets.

After voters rejected a 4.9-mill operating levy on May 5, with 53.98% voting against, Mentor Schools has put new and higher fees in place for the 2026–27 school year. Every student will be charged a new $9.50 paper consumables fee. High school participation fees for athletics, marching band, and Science Olympiad climbed 20%, from about $200 to $240. Middle school fees for those activities rose from about $150 to $180. Each additional student or activity in a household costs another $60. Tuition at both the Garfield Integrated Preschool and the Mentor High School Career Tech Preschool is now $200 per month — $1,800 for the year — with a 200 registration deposit applied to the May 2027 payment. The sixth-grade camp fee rose to $250, and the district eliminated funding for elementary field trips unless outside sources fully cover the cost.

Together, the fee changes are expected to bring in roughly $248,000. That is less than 4% of the $6.6 million reduction plan the district adopted after the May vote.

Who Pays the Most

The fee structure places the heaviest new costs on families with children in preschool or multiple extracurricular activities. A family with one high school student playing two sports would pay $240 for the first activity plus $60 for the second — $300 in participation fees — on top of the $9.50 paper charge. A household with two middle schoolers who each play one sport would pay $180 for the first student and $60 for the second, totaling $240 in participation fees plus $9.50 per child in paper fees. A preschool family faces $1,800 in annual tuition.

Families without children in preschool, athletics, marching band, or Science Olympiad pay only the $9.50-per-student paper charge.

The Broader Budget Picture

The rejected levy was the district's second consecutive operating-levy defeat, following one in November 2025. It would have generated about $13.5 million a year for staffing, transportation, safety, and building upkeep.

Superintendent Craig Heath said the fee changes form only a small part of the broader $6.6 million budget-reduction plan, which "still aims to provide a well-rounded, high-quality education while being responsible stewards of taxpayer resources." The bulk of the savings comes from reducing staff in line with enrollment declines, closing and selling buildings, redistricting, changing employee benefits, cutting department budgets, and seeking grants. Heath and Chief Financial Officer Bill Wade froze their own salaries through 2026–27.

Enrollment has fallen about 8.6%, from roughly 7,171 students in 2021 to about 6,557 in 2025, and forecasts put the number at 6,308 in 2026 and 6,046 by 2030. The district has committed to another $3.3 million in cuts for 2027–28, likely through a school-consolidation plan that would eliminate about nine certified teaching positions and four administrative posts.

What Comes Next

The Mentor School Board has placed a five-year, 3.5-mill operating levy on the November 2026 ballot. The measure would raise about $9.6 million annually beginning in 2027 and cost an estimated $123 a year — about $10.25 a month — for the owner of a $100,000 home. Even if approved, the smaller request would leave a $3.9 million annual gap compared with the $13.5 million levy voters rejected in May.

If the November levy also fails, the district has warned it could need up to $14.4 million more in cuts over two years, bringing total reductions to $21 million and affecting class sizes, student services, arts, electives, and transportation. District models show an additional $9.5 million in cuts could eliminate about six administrative, 68 certified, and 33 classified positions beyond reductions already planned.

The November outcome will determine whether the current fees and planned consolidation represent the floor — or the first phase of a multi-year retrenchment that reaches into core instruction and services.