Updated April 13, 2026
By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
We attended a Riverside School Board work session on April 9, 2026 to learn about the proposed income tax or property tax levy being considered by the administration. Superintendent Dr. Chris Rateno and Treasurer / CFO Dr. Stephen Thompson educated the school board on why the school district needs the money for operating expenses and to fulfill their vision of a new junior and senior high school.
Our goal is to provide the voters in the Riverside School District with just the facts and to let them draw their own conclusion on the role of public education, and the appropriateness of what is proposed for the future. We can say that Lobbyists for Citizens was not asked to be part of the community group that was formed to provide input to the school’s administration on the district’s future.
Here is the slide presentation that is discussed by Rateno and Thompson during the meeting. We thank Dr. Rateno for his transparency and sending us the slide presentation.
Here is Dr. Chris Rateno speaking to the board.
Here is Dr. Stephen Thompson explaining to the school board about the financial realities.
To help the citizens of the Lake County, we have compiled the following financial reports comparing the Lake County School Districts.
From the tax budgets for July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027 (obtaining through a public records request) here is the General Fund report for each school district.
Here is the schedule for the schools’ Bond Retirement Fund. Please note that Riverside currently has $34,735,000 in bond debt with an annual payment of $1,975,000 or $164,583 per month. ($1,975,000 / 12).
We think it is important to point out the impact of the proposed new junior and senior high school will have on this fund.
From slide #9 in Dr. Rateno’s presentation above:
Reimagine the Riverside Campus Honoring our Past
while Securing our Future Riverside High School Vision
Honoring Heritage: Construct a new campus wing that complements the iconic architecture of Riverside High School when viewed from Riverside Drive.
Strategic Community Partnerships: Create a central community hub through active collaboration with local townships, medical providers, the YMCA, and other civic
organizations. (LFC add – this is following the Willoughby-Eastlake model that Dr. Thompson is well aware of since he was the former Superintendent of that district.)
Revitalizing the Existing High School: Refresh and renew the current High School to accommodate modernized programming.
Maximizing Shared Investment: Investigate strategic partnerships for shared facility use to benefit the broader community
From Slide 31 in the presentation:
Debt Obligation for 7-12 Facility – $5.9M
(Annually-35 yrs.)
The debt obligation for the new schools will be $206,500,000 ($5.9M x 35). Repayment will be $5.9 million annually for 35 years. When added to the existing debt load of $34,735,000, Riverside will have the highest debt load of any Lake County School District.
If a 5.0 mill property tax levy is requested by the school board, it will cost taxpayers in the district $175.00 per $100,000 of home valuation (also called appraised value).
Here is the Permanent Improvements Fund:
Here is the Classroom Facilities Maintenance Fund:
Let’s take a look at how the school is performing according the Ohio Department of Education. We submit that this is the only way that the average taxpayer can determine if a school district is succeeding.
Early Literacy – measures reading improvement and proficiency for students in kindergarten through third grade. Please note that the overall unweighted literacy rate for the 2024 – 2025 school year was 65.3%. The weighted average score, which increases if the all of the students are promoted to fourth grade, was 73.7%.
So using the “old school” method of grading we would have to give the school district a “D” in early literacy.
Here is the Achievement component, which measure students’ academic achievement using each level of performance on Ohio’s State tests. There are a lot of percentages listed for subjects and grades. There seems to be a problem in math education with 54.6% proficiency sixth grade, 59.1% in seventh grade, 47.8% in eighth grade, 45.8% in high school.
Here are the overall ratings for all six of the schools in the Riverside School District.
The State of Ohio has a very complex method of grading a school district using a 5 star system to gauge a school district’s performance.
Riverside Jr/Sr High School was rated overall a 3.5 out of 5 stars (70%) Three stars in Achievement, 2 stars in Progress, 3 stars in Gap Closing, 4 stars in Graduation Rates, ad 3 stars in College, Career, Workforce, and Military Readiness.
Updated April 13, 2026
We were asked how Riverside’s overall star rating compares with the other 8 Lake County School districts. From the Ohio Report Card website we gathered the following information:
Madison 2.5, Mentor 4.5, Kirtland 5.0, Wickliffe 3.0, Perry 4.5, Painesville 3.0, Fairport Harbor 3.0 and Willoughby-Eastlake 3.5.
We hope that these facts will help the citizens understand their school district and that they will be better informed as they are asked to vote on either an earned income or property tax levy.
Categories: Education, Lake County - General, Riverside S.D., Uncategorized