The GCS cafeteria is filled with boxes of pencils, notebooks, markers and more, waiting for distribution to students. Teachers received $150 classroom stipends.

“It’s a really cool thing that our budget allowed us to do this this year,” said Amanda Cooper, the public charter school’s board president. “This way, the onus didn’t end up on families. Parents didn’t have to stress out about supplies, especially since the current economic climate isn’t helping anybody.”

School administrators found when they created the 2022-23 budget that there would be additional funds for the school, especially after receiving Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund and Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds. The previous board, Cooper said, approved the expenditures.

It helped, she added, that the school could buy many of the school supplies in bulk, allowing the school’s dollars to go further. Cooper figures the school spent about $105 to $115 per student. The school budgeted $10,000 for student supplies and $15,000 for teacher classrooms.

For GCS parent Brittany DeBarris, who has three children at the school, having school supplies checked off her back-to-school list is a relief. With inflation hitting her pocketbook in other areas, it was nice not having to worry about school supplies, too.

“While school supplies for elementary school are not super expensive, when you have three kiddos, it still adds up,” she said, noting that instead, the children may get a couple extra outfits to wear to school.

“I’m really, really proud we could do this,” Cooper said. “To be able to pull the burden off the plates of families is an honor.”