John Gustafson
Elections and appointments
Personal
Contact
John Gustafson is running for election for an at-large seat of the Colorado Springs School District 11 school board. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.[source]
Biography
John Gustafson was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Gustafson earned an associate degree from Morgan Community College in 2011. His career experience includes working as a small business owner.[1]
Elections
2025
See also: Colorado Springs School District 11, Colorado, elections (2025)
General election
The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2021
See also: Colorado Springs School District 11, Colorado, elections (2021)
General election
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
2025
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
John Gustafson has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey. If you are John Gustafson, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey.
Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?
Any candidate running for elected office, at any level, can complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Survey. Completing the survey will update the candidate's Ballotpedia profile, letting voters know who they are and what they stand for. More than 22,000 candidates have taken Ballotpedia's candidate survey since we launched it in 2015. Learn more about the survey here.
Help improve Ballotpedia - send us candidate contact info.
2021
John Gustafson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gustafson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
Expand all | Collapse all
I’m a husband, father, small-business owner, and fierce advocate for our schools. I was born in Colorado Springs. I work and raise my family in Colorado Springs. I believe in Colorado Springs. I have a strong work ethic, blue-collar sensibilities, believe that high-quality education is an attainable goal this year and every year, and think that listening to people and building consensus is the hard work that must happen if we are to improve our schools.
- We need to raise reading and math proficiency!
- We need to stop attacking our teachers.
- We need to lift our children up, not tear them down.
I believe the intersection of local policies and state/federal policies concerning education is of the greatest importance. I believe that public education is about more than high test scores , but I also believe that when test scores are among the lowest in the state we should be willing to look honestly at the data and institute policies and procedures that actually address the issue instead of simply creating division and animosity in our community. And I think central administration should communicate honestly with the community, should not squash dissent it doesn’t agree with, and shouldn’t say one thing when it means another. We shouldn’t go out of or way as a school district to erode the trust of our community. We should stand up for our children and provide outstanding institutions of public education for all students, today!
I look up to Abraham Lincoln. I like to remember that he emerged from an unexpected place and rose to meet the challenges of his day. If you would have asked 99% of people in the country at the time, even when he was a congressman for the 7th district, that one day he would lead our country to its greatest moral victory and heal a nation they would laugh in your face. Yet he did. He had the courage and the moral fortitude to face down the greatest scourge of his day and I look up to him because sometimes moral courage and the leadership we need come from the places and in the forms that we least expect.
A study of history by Arnold Toynbee is very good and I recommend it to everybody.
Ethical and moral fortitude.
Clarity of vision and an adherence to ethical, responsible communication.
Abiding in an ethical manner and always striving for the best for our students.
One in which we empower the next generation of amazing leaders and then get out of their way so they can grow and thrive.
I remember the Berlin Wall coming down. I was pretty young, 8 years old, but I clearly remember the energy as people smashed at it. They were literally deconstructing a barrier to their freedom and the freedom of their neighbors, and I remember how happy everybody was. And I look now and see what a great investment in the human spirit that achievement was, how much prosperity it’s engendered, and I want to do the same thing for my neighbors here at home.
I had a summer job in high school working in a nursing home. It was hard but I meant some pretty amazing people. I worked there for two summers.
To Kill a Mockingbird, because it articulates in a profound and amazing way so many facets of the human condition/experience that, frankly, transcend economics, culture, race, and politics and uplifts the reader in a spiritual way.
Wildfire by Mandolin Orange
Like so many of our students, past and present, I and my family were faced with destructive and debilitating economic and cultural challenges at multiple points of our life journey and experienced first-hand the nefarious influence of despair. Like an unfortunately small number of people in that position I was blessed to make it through to a place where I can grow my family and give back to my community. Everyone deserves the opportunity to not be subverted in the first place but for those who haven’t been afforded that opportunity we must never forget that the paths that lead us to where we are are often outside our control and the fellow humans we meet along the way, no matter the present condition, deserve understanding and respect.
The primary job of a school board member is to oversee the distribution and disbursement of resources, maintain governance standards, manage the superintendent, review policies and review their implementation, and encourage ongoing education success.
The parents of district 11 specifically but also all members of our community. Everyone who lives in the D11 school district should have a voice.
I would work diligently to ensure the highest standards of academic excellence. I would promote a collegial atmosphere of professionalism and scholastic rigor. I would work to uplift all students and parents in our district through cultural understanding and mutual respect. I would listen to and support our staff and provide a secure and appropriate environment conducive to educational excellence.
I will go out and talk with people in our community every chance I get and what’s more, I’ll go out of my way to thoughtfully listen. I want to communicate with parents groups, professional organization, the union, local business and faith leaders, and of course the children themselves. I will work to address people’s concerns in best best manner available to me.
I believe that it’s important to intentionally recruit on the basis of competence and ability.
Frankly, our community and communities all across this country are faced with economic and cultural issues that indirectly manifest in our schools in the form of low test scores and inappropriate behavior. We as a community need to have a frank and ongoing discussion and work unceasingly to find workable solutions.
Good teaching is the provision of quality academic instruction, delivered in a fashion that is useful to the student and documentable, that engenders retention of information and methodologies in the student body.
Our civics are lacking, as well as the arts, and we need to always maintain our proficiency in maths, sciences, logic, and articulate discourse.
I would look to the community.
The principle that drives me is that public education is a hallowed and noble institution and should be guarded and maintained as such.
With appropriate resources, when necessary.
Not as much as we have been led to believe.
What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor?
-Where’s my tractor?
School works when we do it in the class room with appropriate student/teacher ratios and in the context of academic rigor and demonstrable methodologies.
I will go out and talk with my neighbors. I will answer emails and look for actual pathways to resolution.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
External links
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 4, 2021
