Mentor Schools CFO Bill Wade leaving Sept. 30 as district faces $3.1 million deficit and possible elementary closures

Chief Financial Officer Bill Wade will leave Mentor Schools on Sept. 30, departing at the sharpest fiscal crossroads the district has faced in years: enrollment down 12% since 2021, a projected $3.1 million deficit for 2026, and a plan to close three of seven elementary buildings that the board has yet to finalize.

Wade notified the Board of Education on Aug. 27 that he had accepted another professional position. The same meeting was slated to include a presentation of detailed consolidation options and an updated five-year financial forecast — a coincidence of timing that leaves the district hunting for its next fiscal steward just as its most consequential budget and facilities decisions come due.

The board will determine next steps for filling the CFO role in the coming weeks. Mike Vaccariello, the district's assistant treasurer and business operations director, is already on staff.

The numbers behind the shortfall

Mentor's enrollment has fallen from 7,171 students in 2021 to a projected 6,308 this year — a loss of 863 students that has eroded the district's per-pupil state funding base. Wade arrived as director of business operations in 2020 after serving as Kirtland Local School District superintendent from 2016 to 2020, and he was named CFO in 2021, the same year the enrollment slide began. Before that, he spent about five years as principal of Mentor High School.

The district has already cut $6.6 million from the 2026-27 budget through staffing reductions and operational changes that do not depend on consolidation. Following the May levy defeat, Mentor Schools also changed its fee structure for certain activities and tuition as part of that broader effort.

An additional $3.3 million in cuts is planned for 2027-28, savings the district expects consolidation to deliver — roughly $3.3 million to $3.5 million annually once buildings close. District leaders say those planned reductions, totaling roughly $10 million over two years, will proceed regardless of whether voters approve a levy in November.

Levy math

Mentor voters rejected a proposed 4.9-mill levy in May by about 54% to 46%, blocking an estimated $13.5 million per year in operating funds. The district has placed a smaller five-year, 3.5-mill operating levy on the Nov. 3 ballot that would generate about $9.6 million annually — $3.9 million less per year than the failed request. The November levy would cost property owners roughly $123 per year, or $10.25 per month, for each $100,000 in property valuation.

Consolidation choices still open

Mentor Schools currently operates seven elementary schools: Bellflower, Fairfax, Hopkins, Lake, Orchard Hollow, Ridge and Sterling Morton. The consolidation plan would close three of those buildings and may require shifting where certain grade levels are housed across the district. As of early September, no specific schools have been selected for closure, and district officials expect to finalize a plan by the end of the month — the same month Wade walks out the door.

The district is weighing multiple grade-reconfiguration options, including K-3 with grades 4-7 in middle schools and grades 8-12 at Mentor High School; K-4 with separate grades 5-6 and 7-8 buildings while the high school stays 9-12; and a model with three K-2 schools, two grades 3-6 schools and one grades 7-8 school. The current configuration is K-5 elementary, 6-8 middle school and 9-12 high school. Administrators have said moving eighth grade to Mentor High School is a major possibility because it could free middle-school space, though no final decision has been made.

Superintendent Craig Heath stressed that nothing is settled. "No consolidation decisions have been finalized," Heath said. "Ideas remain in the planning and evaluation stages. Additional opportunities for families, staff and community members to learn more, ask questions and provide input will be provided before any recommendations are finalized."

A community survey seeking input on consolidation remains open through Sept. 9.

What parents are watching

At board meetings, parents have raised pointed concerns about how consolidation would affect school start and end times, alignment with work schedules, transportation logistics and the future of the We Care before- and after-school program.

Cost-cutting debates have also surfaced within the board itself. Board member Rose M. Ioppolo moved to eliminate the district's practice of paying the employee share of STRS/SERS retirement contributions for administrators, arguing it would save about $700,000 per year and align administrators with the teachers' retirement model. The motion failed 4-1. The practice costs the general fund in the low $600,000s annually.

The five-member board — President Maggie A. Cook, Vice-President Lauren M. Marchaza, Robert G. Haag, Daniel A. Hardesty and Ioppolo — now faces a compressed timeline: choose which elementary schools to close, set a new grade configuration, shepherd a levy campaign and install a new CFO, all before the end of fall.

Who steers Mentor's finances through that gauntlet — and how the board fills the vacancy Wade leaves behind — remains the district's most immediate unanswered question.