Dear Team GUSD:

In an effort to provide you with information about the status of negotiations with the Gilroy Teachers Association (GTA), the District negotiations team will share brief updates regarding specific components of the current GUSD proposal.

Sharing this information with all staff will allow you to be informed about the proposal that the District’s negotiations team has presented to GTA leadership.  

The third update addresses how declining enrollment directly impacts salary offers at the negotiations table:

Why Does Declining Enrollment Matter for Staff Salary Offers?

As the Gilroy Unified School District negotiations team analyzes salary offers for employees, it must consider declining enrollment as a significant variable.  Declining enrollment reduces new and future revenue received from the State.  

For example, the 2023-24 8.22% COLA (cost of living adjustment) yields only a 4% increase in revenue because of declining enrollment.  Fewer students in our classrooms means less revenue to the District.  

The graduating class of 2024 has 1,054 students at four high schools in GUSD.  Currently, there are only 580 kindergarten students enrolled at the District’s seven elementary schools.  This means that revenue that is tied to student enrollment will be decreased by 474 as this year’s kinders move forward in their educational journey.

According to demographer data*, the birth rates in Gilroy continue to decline, meaning fewer students will likely enter kindergarten in GUSD in the coming years.

*GUSD Enrollment Report by PowerSchool (formerly DecisionInsite) presented to the GUSD Board of Education, 12/15/2022

Ongoing salary proposals do not only impact existing monies.  The District must always calculate how ongoing salary increases impact the long-term financial stability of the District in an environment where future revenue streams are decreasing.

We welcome the opportunity to continue our conversations with GTA with the hope that we can reach an agreement that benefits our staff members and maintains the fiscal solvency of District operations.

Anisha Munshi, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Gilroy Unified School District