Education

Keep up with Columbia public schools

Below the overview of the district are links to KBIA's coverage of Columbia 93 district schools, updated as more stories are published. Columbia 93 at a glanceThe Columbia 93 school district currently includes 32 different schools. In 2014, the district had a k-12 enrollment of 17,204 students, which is 2% of the total k-12 enrollment for the state. Enrollment has been slightly increasing in recent years, 2% since 2011. While a small percent, that amounts to almost 400 more students. There have also been major re-drawing of attendance areas with the addition of Battle High School. Middle school attendance areas shape high school boundaries 00000178-cc7d-da8b-a77d-ec7d2f9e0000The changes have affected all schools in the district, including causing high school attendance to increase and overcrowding at one middle school at least.

EEZ discussion spills into Columbia School Board meeting

KBIA | By Maoling Xiong

Published November 15, 2012 at 7:47 AM CST

Columbia's very public discussion about a proposed Enhanced Enterprise Zone in the city made an appearance at Monday night's School Board meeting, where residents said the policy could negatively impact education funding by reducing tax revenue to schools. The EEZ policy has been supported by some economic development groups to encourage new-business development in the city.

Five Columbia residents spoke out against the EEZ policy in the Columbia School Board's public comment session Monday night.

Columbia Resident Dan Hemmelgarn said tax abatements in EEZ policy could hurt students by reducing the property taxes going into public education.

“It seems to me that corporations should make their profit on the sale of their product or the sale of their services, not on the backs of our children’s education," Hemmelgarn said.

Fred Demarco is a developer in town. He said the tax break is just a vehicle for business to get free money. Other speakers also questioned the effectiveness of EEZ’s policy in creating jobs.

School Board Member Jan Mees said the board needs further discussion on the issue.

"It’s amazing the passion that we have on both sides of the issues," Mees said. "The board itself honestly has not had a chance to have a discussion among ourselves about how we feel about this. I believe that is slated for our December meeting."

James Whitt is the representative for the Columbia Board of Education in the EEZ advisory board. He will carry the message of the school board to the EEZ board after the board's meeting on Dec. 10.