Sep 14, 2026 · 38 min · 11 segments
What does it look like to lead school IT when budgets are tightening, AI is entering the classroom, and public education is facing significant change? James Symons sits down with Dustin Gray…
Okay, so you're managing a technology team and a technology budget for a significant amount of stakeholders and people within the school district.
If the federal government reduces its funding, and there's an argument for and what I've heard is that really it's then asking the states to step up and fill that gap.
And I think depending upon what state you're in is really depending upon, you know, whether or not how they look at public education and where that goes into play.
You know, I think back to, you know, it'll be 30 years next year when I graduated high school, you know, and I'm thinking, how many options did I have back then? know really about schooling uh you had to go to school or you know maybe you heard kids that were homeschooled or you went to a private school but that's really about it you know but now you have just really a plethora of different options to be able to complete your you know so your 13 years of your education before you start becoming an you know a full-fledged adult And I think that you see in different states and including this one that you've got so many options out there that it can really change the way public education has to go about doing their
And what's the biggest impact then? to a school like yours with so many options for other people, for people to get an education in, in other areas, that's then affecting your student size.
Um, we're looking at, uh, you know, really over the past, uh, few years, we've looked at, uh, declining enrollment, uh, where you've seen, uh, kids and parents, you know, and, and like I said, I'm, I'm not here to judge in any way, shape or form, uh, But you have parents who have gotten options to be able to keep their kids at home.
They can choose to come back to the district and pay a little bit here and there to take a class here or a class there.
But it's really taking public education and really almost making it into a junior college or a community college scenario where you're having to go out almost recruit for students in some instances because you are having kids leave for other options and you know once again you have you have some students who are there and who are you know all day long inside of a school district and But at the same time, you have some who may have been there or their families may have been once in your public education system.
And now they've decided to go somewhere else because they're funded from another source.
So they may be getting a check from the state because they have the option to be able to go into a private school, charter school, all of these other options.
So it changes how we have to go about doing business because sometimes Things aren't getting any cheaper.
You know, just our budgets in general with, you know, all the things in which we've seen inflated.
Okay, so you're managing a technology team and a technology budget for a significant amount of stakeholders and people within the school district.
If the federal government reduces its funding, and there's an argument for and what I've heard is that really it's then asking the states to step up and fill that gap.
And I think depending upon what state you're in is really depending upon, you know, whether or not how they look at public education and where that goes into play.
You know, I think back to, you know, it'll be 30 years next year when I graduated high school, you know, and I'm thinking, how many options did I have back then? know really about schooling uh you had to go to school or you know maybe you heard kids that were homeschooled or you went to a private school but that's really about it you know but now you have just really a plethora of different options to be able to complete your you know so your 13 years of your education before you start becoming an you know a full-fledged adult And I think that you see in different states and including this one that you've got so many options out there that it can really change the way public education has to go about doing their
And what's the biggest impact then? to a school like yours with so many options for other people, for people to get an education in, in other areas, that's then affecting your student size.
Um, we're looking at, uh, you know, really over the past, uh, few years, we've looked at, uh, declining enrollment, uh, where you've seen, uh, kids and parents, you know, and, and like I said, I'm, I'm not here to judge in any way, shape or form, uh, But you have parents who have gotten options to be able to keep their kids at home.
They can choose to come back to the district and pay a little bit here and there to take a class here or a class there.
But it's really taking public education and really almost making it into a junior college or a community college scenario where you're having to go out almost recruit for students in some instances because you are having kids leave for other options and you know once again you have you have some students who are there and who are you know all day long inside of a school district and But at the same time, you have some who may have been there or their families may have been once in your public education system.
And now they've decided to go somewhere else because they're funded from another source.
So they may be getting a check from the state because they have the option to be able to go into a private school, charter school, all of these other options.
So it changes how we have to go about doing business because sometimes Things aren't getting any cheaper.
You know, just our budgets in general with, you know, all the things in which we've seen inflated.
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