As we face uncertainties about what the next school year will look like and the financial impacts of the COVID-19 health crisis, our goal is to continue providing the quality education our students deserve with a responsible spending plan.
From January 13 to January 29, 2021, the district hosted three ThoughtExchanges to gather advice from our school community about what’s important as the district develops the 2021-22 school budget. District administration and the Board of Education are using the results of these exchanges to inform their budget priorities.
ThoughtExchange is an online engagement platform that allows participants to respond to a question and rate others’ thoughts anonymously. You can view the results of each exchange below.
2021-2022 School Budget ThoughtExchanges
GCSD Parent/Guardian and Community Member Feedback
We asked, “GCSD parents/guardians and community members, given the uncertain landscape for next school year, what advice would you offer to the district as we develop the 2021-2022 school budget?”
This exchange had 541 participants, 328 thoughts and 15,980 ratings. Highly rated themes from the exchange include expressions of appreciation to the faculty and staff, keeping smaller class sizes and focusing on social and emotional health.
View the interactive report of the GCSD Parent/Guardian and Community Member ThoughtExchange
GCSD Faculty and Staff Feedback
We asked, “GCSD faculty and staff, given the uncertain landscape for next school year, what advice would you offer to the district as we develop the 2021-2022 budget?”
There were 265 faculty and staff who participated, 149 thoughts were shared and 6,747 ratings. Highly rated themes from the exchange include keeping smaller class sizes, maintaining all academic programs and offering early retirement incentives.
View the interactive report of the GCSD Faculty and Staff ThoughtExchange
GCSD Student Feedback
We asked students in grades 5-12, “GCSD students, what things would you like your school district to consider as the spending plan for the 2021-2022 school year is created?”
We had 1,019 participants, 1,324 thoughts and 60,026 ratings. Highly rated themes include cameras for attendance, mental health and workload. We asked our students to provide insight into what’s important when developing our spending plan, and what was uncovered are additional topics that the administration is reviewing and discussing.
View the interactive report of the GCSD student budget ThoughtExchange
Related Budget Information
- More budget and taxes information
- See the 2021-22 budget overview that was presented on Jan. 12 during the Board of Education meeting