Our community approved a 15% override in November 2019, which was in effect starting in the 2020-2021  school year.  That override will begin a phase down in the 2025-2026  school year if the request in November 2023 fails.  The 15% Budget Continuation Override, if approved, will begin in the 2024-2025  school year and will continue until the 2028-2029 school year.

Gilbert Public Schools has made significant strides towards competitive salaries, increasing safety and security in our campuses and actively working to maintain lower class sizes over the past four years.  This Override Continuation will allow us to maintain this status to benefit all 33,000 students in attendance.

It has been the practice of GPS to request an override continuation one year early providing a potential second chance of having the override renewed in the event of a failure.  

The  intent is to make sure that GPS is as transparent as possible.  In a Gubernatorial or Presidential election year, the ballot is often very long with numerous initiatives and candidates.  By requesting an override continuation in an off-cycle election, the voter is able to review the requests more closely allowing a greater opportunity to understand the request and make a more informed decision.

Below is a table showing the override percentages and dollar values for some of the local East Valley school districts that we compete for high quality personnel.  Note that all have a 15% override in place except for Apache Junction.  Note the relationship between the dollar value and the student count applicable to each school district.

If the override does not pass Gilbert Public Schools would have to cut $35.8 million from the budget over 3 years, starting in school year 2025-2026. 

During the first year, about $ 11.9 M will have to be cut.  Strategies used in the past included pay reductions, decreases in gifted education access, increases in class sizes, freezing of staffing positions and pay freezes.  Any reductions will be determined collaboratively with the District leadership team inclusive of school based leaders and will ensure that educational priorities continue to be funded.

The override currently funds competitive salaries, safety and security personnel to include social workers, mental health counselors and campus security specialists as well as class size reduction allocations.  Programs restored after the 2015 successful override election continue to be funded.

No, this 15% budget override continuation maintains the present tax rate paid today by GPS residents and commercial property owners.

The Override is funded from the secondary tax rate along with the Bond debt service.  The tax rate associated with the 15% Override is $1.2988 per $100 of assessed value. 

Based on an assessed home value of $251,560, the average assessed value in GPS, the homeowner impact would be as follows:

Current monthly cost (15% override) = $27.23

Current annual cost (15% override) = $326.73

Currently, Gilbert Public Schools has some underutilized schools. GPS leadership to include the Governing Board has been proactive in “right sizing” the District. Gilbert Public Schools actively monitors efficient use of space and takes action when required.   During the Spring of 2022, the Neely Traditional School site was purchased by the Town of Gilbert and the Traditional school was moved to the former Houston Elementary.  Houston Elementary boundary was then incorporated into the Burk elementary boundary.

GPS regularly reviews enrollment trends and considers boundary changes and repurposing spaces.  Today, as space becomes available, there is an opportunity to provide self-contained special education classrooms to meet demand, and to expand community preschool offerings district-wide.  As of school year 2023-2024, the special education population represents about 15% of the total enrollment up from about 11.5% in 2018.

These two terms are used interchangeably but the ballot will look like:

Budget Override Continuation,  yes

Budget Override Continuation, no