Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of four stories profiling the candidates for the R-6 Board of Education.
By DEVIN R. NEGRETE
(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) – Gary Grigsby is a small business owner, former teacher, the husband of a former Warrensburg teacher, and the father of three Warrensburg graduates.
Grigsby is also one of four candidates who have filed for three available seats on the Warrensburg R-6 Board of Education in the April 8 election. Also on the ballot are Lisa Dyer, Adam Horn and Ed Wirthwein.
“I don’t have an agenda,” Grigsby said. “I think we need to look at the issues and let the educators come to us and say, ‘These are things we need.’”
Grigsby owns Central Band and Piano in Warrensburg. He is the voice of the UCM Marching Mules, a former United States Marine and a University of Missouri and UCM graduate.
Grigsby said he wants to put his focus on the educators and their needs for improvement in the classrooms.
“The states and federal government are already imposing things upon local districts,” he said. “They are cutting back funding but requiring more.”
There are budget issues that Grigsby said he wants to help solve.
“The Warrensburg district has had to borrow from its reserves to meet operating costs,” he said. “These are not only things that need to be solved at the district level, but also the state level.”
Grigsby said he plans to take his concerns about the foundation formula, which the state uses to allocate funds for school districts, and have them addressed at the state level.
“They will hear from me in Jefferson City that we need to fully fund the foundation formula,” he said. “Missouri has a constitutional provision that we can’t spend more than what we take in and it requires the district to spend all the monies they have in a fiscal year.”