Changes to the rest of Columbia Public Schools’ calendar this year will happen because the district used up its Alternative Methods of Instruction, or AMI, hours this week.
The district used the last of the 36 hours the state allots for AMI on Tuesday. Wednesday was a snow day. On Thursday, the Columbia School Board heard options on ways to make up that snow day — and potentially others — later in the school year.
Board members talked over the various suggestions and decided that Feb. 28, a teacher conference day when there are no classes, will not be used to make up the snow day.
District officials will present a revised option or options to the board at its next regular meeting, March 10, for approval. At least one day will be added to the school year, with others possible if more snow days are needed.
Districts have requested clarification from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and legislation has been filed “to clarify and perhaps adjust how the hours are interpreted,” according to a district email sent to news media Tuesday. In Thursday’s meeting, board Vice President John Lyman said the pending legislation may change how past AMI days have been classified and reverse the need for additional school days.
DESE states that AMI days are intended to replace a planned day of education when students cannot attend school. Reasons for canceling a school day include but are not limited to “inclement weather, a utility outage, or an outbreak of a contagious disease.”
This is the first year the district has had AMI in place. AMI is the result of a state law requiring 169 instructional days each school year if a district wants to receive additional funding.
The district divided those 36 hours into six AMI days, which, as of Tuesday, were all used.
A 2019 Missouri statute established that schools do not have to make up snow days at the end of the school year if students are offered alternative instruction at home.
A different piece of legislation, Senate Bill 727, which took effect for the 2024-25 school year, requires districts in charter counties or cities with more than 30,000 inhabitants to spread instructional time over 169 days to get the extra funding. Previously, districts had to have a certain number of instructional hours, but no set number of days were required. School districts that comply with the new requirement receive a 1% boost in funding for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years and a 2% boost for 2028.
Each school has a pre-approved plan for AMI days, which includes review but no new material. Students can access their AMI activities by logging into the district’s student portal or using packets previously distributed by their teachers. AMI activities are meant to be available to all students, early childhood through 12th grade.
Pay structure for administrators
Also Thursday, the board heard from representatives of Gallagher Benefit Services, which was hired to conduct a compensation study to ensure pay for district administrators is competitive.
The firm suggested the district implement a salary structure for administrators. Tracy Morris, a Gallagher representative, said the district does not have one for the administrative positions included in the study.
“(The human resources department) is doing a market study every time they need to hire someone,” Morris said. “(Adding a salary structure) takes some of that work away and allows you to have a system in place to pay those employees.”
The study, which looked at 120 administrative jobs in Columbia Public Schools, showed that the district is “highly competitive” at the median percentile.
Morris explained that employees who are new to a role or coming in with less experience are in the 25th percentile and paid above the market average; employees with experience who are fully “sufficient” in their role are in the median percentile and paid even with the market average; and employees who are tenured in the role and have a lot of experience are in the 75th percentile and paid below market value.
“You would only align there if you were trying to take a leading market position,” Morris said of the positions in the 75th percentile. “That is just not a position most school districts can afford to take.”
Gallagher presented the board with two options for implementing a pay grade structure: one aligned even with the market median and one aligned competitively with the market median.
Both options accounted for the district paying up to 20% above or 20% below the market median for any given position based on a candidate’s qualifications and experience level.
Implementing these salary structures would cost the district $476,619 for the first option and $570,551 for the competitive option.
Missourian reporter Genevieve Smith contributed to this article.
