Politics

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.

The world according to Peter Stiepleman, and his vision for Columbia schools

KBIA | By Austin Federa

Published April 15, 2014 at 8:24 AM CDT

It’s a new era for Columbia Public Schools...

On Tuesday, Columbia voters approved a $50 million dollar bond issue that is part of a 10-year plan to fund a new elementary school and other improvements, and to finally get rid of the district’s classroom trailers, eventually, for the Columbia school district’s growing number of students. And, as the district moves forward, a new superintendent will be at the helm: Peter Stiepleman has been the district’s assistant superintendent of elementary education, and takes on the role of district superintendent when Chris Belcher retires this June. During the search, the Columbia Tribune's Hank Waters called Stiepleman one of American education’s “hot prospects” who has “shown his stuff” in Columbia. We take your questions and answer some of our own.