Mentor School Board Invites Lawmakers to Make Their Case About EdChoice Vouchers

May 26, 2026

Good Tuesday morning,

We’re excited about tonight.

Mentor Public Schools, a suburban public school district in Lake County east of Cleveland, has invited local lawmakers and Vouchers Hurt Ohio to attend their board meeting for a discussion about EdChoice private school vouchers, and a possible vote to join our lawsuit.

Dan Heintz, a steering committee member for Vouchers Hurt Ohio, will speak to the Mentor board on behalf of our coalition.

Here is the question on everyone’s mind: Will he or won’t he?

He being state Rep. Jamie Callender, who happens to be one of two Ohio House members whose district contains Mentor Public Schools.

Callendar has not been heard from since his plan to bully school districts that joined our lawsuit backfired big time, and he suddenly was unavailable to answer questions from the press.

So will Callender accept the invitation?

And what about state Sen. Jerry Cirino, a voucher-backer who represents Mentor, whose daughter is on the Mentor board. Will he show up?

If they come, they will have to do a lot of explaining.

See Mentor, like a lot of districts, is facing financial struggles after the state shortchanged Ohio public schools $3 billion in the current two-year state budget, according to Policy Matters Ohio.

“Ohio’s legislature has repeatedly reduced the state share of public school funding, from a high of 47 percent in 1999 down to an estimated 35 percent in 2026 and 32.2 percent in 2027. This reduction in state share means that property tax revenue accounts for an increasingly large portion of Ohio public school funding,” states Policy Matters Ohio.

At the same time, state lawmakers like Callender and Cirino are sending $1.7 billion to EdChoice private school vouchers that are being used mostly by wealthy families to pay for their children who were often already enrolled in mostly religious schools.

Policy Matters Ohio correctly points out that when the state’s share of funding drops, school districts have one of two choices: make cuts in the district or ask local property owners to pay higher taxes.

Want to know why your property taxes are so high? Look to Columbus because they have been shortchanging your public schools for decades.

Voters in Mentor rejected a 4.9 mill operating levy last November and again earlier this month.

Tonight’s discussion comes as Mentor faces cuts amounting to $5.9 million.

Here is how Mentor describes itself to anyone interested in moving into the areas served by the district: Mentor, Mentor-On-The-Lake, Concord Township and Kirtland Hills.

“Our district operates seven elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school and one state-of-the-art specialized school for autism.”

Mentor offers more than 200 courses through their current Program of Studies, including college or honor level classes, AP, career technical education, art, music, electives, online and distance learning classes for about 6,600 students.

With the two failed levies, Mentor is looking at cutting staff, overtime and discretionary spending, reduction in travel and professional development, elimination of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), music, and art positions. Future cuts could include high school busing.

Cirino and Callender feign anger at public schools for paying $2 per pupil per year to join our lawsuit, which is a drop in the ocean compared to the $3 billion shortfall to public schools. They are really mad because they don’t like it when someone questions their authority or decisions. Cirino is the Senate Finance Committee chair so he has a lot of power in deciding where the legislature spends money.

We are suing the state to protect local public schools, public school children, and local taxpayers, and Franklin County Judge Jaiza Page agreed with us, ruling in June, 2025, that EdChoice vouchers are unconstitutional on three counts.

Our case is now before the 10th District Court of Appeals.

Any local school board that joins our lawsuit, and more are joining just about every day, is standing up for the future of public schools and for taxpayers.

Is your district part of our historic lawsuit? Check here.

If not, why isn’t your board, superintendent and treasurer standing up for local schools and local property taxpayers? Join here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio