Gilbert Public Schools used $36.2 million in voter-approved override funding during fiscal 2026, primarily to support employee compensation, class sizes and programs, while spending the last of its 2019 bond proceeds.
District officials detailed the spending Sept. 15 as part of an annual report required of Arizona school districts that have voter-approved bond or maintenance and operations override funding.
The report also comes as GPS prepares to ask voters in November to authorize a new $136 million bond for capital needs.
Superintendent Jared Ryan said the district recognizes the significance of seeking additional taxpayer support and has been working to provide information about both the upcoming request and its past use of voter-approved money.
“Facts related to that are incredibly important to be shared with our community,” Ryan said. “We've been answering questions as quickly as we can as those come in.”
Associate Superintendent for Business and Support Operations Crystal Zachary said M&O overrides generally support salaries and programs, while bonds are restricted to capital items expected to last at least five years, such as facilities, technology, security improvements and transportation.
The district's 15% M&O override was first approved in 2019, increasing a 10% override voters had approved in 2015. Voters continued the 15% override in November 2024.
The current override remains in effect through fiscal 2032 but will begin phasing down by one-third annually beginning in fiscal 2030 if voters do not renew it before then.
The override provided $36.2 million in budget capacity during fiscal 2026.
The largest commitment involved employee compensation. GPS reported $69.2 million in fiscal 2026 expenses for competitive wages intended to attract and retain staff, with $43.5 million of that supported through state equalization funding, Classroom Site Fund money and fund balance, leaving the override to cover the remaining portion.
Other override-supported commitments included:
$6.3 million toward maintaining or reducing class sizes;
$1.8 million for social workers and mental health counselors;
$1.5 million for post-secondary advising, career exploration and early college credit;
$800,000 to maintain affordable access to arts, athletics and co-curricular activities;
and $100,000 for academic programming, including traditional education and AP Capstone.
“But you can see from the totals that the full amount of the override is spent each year,” Zachary said. “2025 it was $36 million. 2026 it was $36.2.”
GPS also reported that beginning teacher pay has increased substantially since voters approved the 15% override. Beginning teacher salary was $43,533 in the 2019-20 school year and $54,065 in 2025-26. It increased to $55,150 for the current school year.
Class-size funding also remains a significant piece of the override. The district reserves $2 million annually to target areas with higher student-teacher ratios.
Average elementary class size was 23.4 students in fiscal 2026, compared with 23.1 the previous year. Junior high classes averaged 27.3 students, while high school classes averaged 25.8.
The district identified about $1.55 million in targeted class-size spending during fiscal 2026, representing 15.6 full-time-equivalent positions and site-based substitute costs. Those positions included teachers in elementary, junior high and high school programs.
On the capital side, GPS has now exhausted the $100 million in bond authority voters approved in 2019.
Only $633,399 in those bond proceeds was spent during fiscal 2026. That money represented funds carried over from buses ordered during fiscal 2025 but delivered in fiscal 2026.
The money helped purchase one 84-passenger general education bus costing $257,073 and three smaller special education buses costing $376,326. Some of the total bus costs had to be covered with unrestricted capital money because the bond proceeds ran out.
The district now must rely on unrestricted capital and other funding sources for capital projects unless voters approve additional bond authority.
That comes as GPS manages an aging collection of buildings and equipment. Chief Operations Officer Albert Dutchover said the district oversees nearly 5 million square feet of facilities across about 850 acres.
He said four major chiller failures had occurred at district facilities in roughly the first two months of the current school year, with repairs totaling nearly $500,000.
“We do what we can to keep things going, but just like anything else, just like I said, anything with a home, everybody knows that we could walk in one day and a failure, things age and it never comes at an opportune time,” Dutchover said.
GPS spent another approximately $15.5 million from unrestricted capital on facilities during fiscal 2026, Zachary said.
Technology officials also pointed to aging school communication and paging systems as a future capital need. Many campuses still have original wiring and systems that require continued work to integrate with newer lockdown and emergency software, and some have gaps in speaker coverage.
The district has completed standardized communication and paging systems at Canyon Rim Elementary and Greenfield Junior High, with work underway at Desert Ridge High School.
GPS also reported $70.8 million in outstanding general obligation bond debt as of June 30.
Actual interest costs from the district's 2015 and 2019 voter authorizations have come in a combined $27.7 million below estimates included in voter information pamphlets. The district attributed that difference to its debt-management practices and favorable market conditions.
The district's combined property tax rate also declined for fiscal 2027. The final rate is $4.9952 per $100 of assessed valuation, down from $5.1797 in fiscal 2026, a decrease of about 18.5 cents.
The secondary portion includes $1.1017 for the M&O override and 82.87 cents for Class B bonds.
The annual spending report itself required no board action. It was presented to provide the public with an accounting of how GPS used its voter-approved funding during the previous fiscal year.
Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him on X at @sp_blodgett.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
Gilbert Public Schools,
GPS bond spending,
GPS override,
school funding,
M&O override,
Gilbert school bond,
teacher salaries,
class sizes,
GPS property taxes,
2026 school bond
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