The Columbia School Board unanimously approved a $390 million budget for the 2026-2027 school year during a regular session Monday.
The board also introduced the creation of a dedicated healthcare high school, presented a district-wide safety evaluation and heard public comment from the mother of Evan Avery.
2026-27 Budget
According to a budget presentation last week from Heather McArthur, the district’s chief financial officer, Columbia Public Schools’ total spending is expected to decrease by over $19 million. Total revenue is also expected to decrease by $26.5 million from the previous school year, with an expected total revenue of $372 million.
Next year’s expenses and revenue gap will be closed by pulling roughly $11.7 million from reserves.
Amendments to the 2025-26 budget were also unanimously approved.
McArthur said drafting the annual budget is “a monumental undertaking ... But everyone comes together as a team.”
“I really appreciate it,” she said in response to gratitude expressed by members of the board.
“We are at the end of the road, for, like, a week, until we start over again,” McArthur said.
She said she was happy to share a moment with her son, Micah McArthur from Hickman High School, who was recognized at the meeting for his state record-breaking baseball season. He set a new single-season saves record.
Health Science High School
Katie Siegel, the district’s director of workforce development, presented the potential timeline for the creation of the Health Science High School. With the program still fairly new, Siegel made it clear that “a lot is unknown.”
The program is a partnership between MU Health Care and the district that would give high school students a health science-focused core curriculum, including hands-on experience, shadow shifts in hospitals and mentorships with medical professionals. It’s modeled after Health Education and Learning High School, a career-technical education high school in Houston.
Superintendent Jeff Klein said the new school’s Steering Committee, which features several leaders from the University of Missouri, the district and Columbia College, is still discussing the prospect of the program with parents and students throughout Columbia.
This upcoming fall, Siegel said the committee will first hold “focus groups” to gauge input from eighth grade students and their parents and later gather survey responses.
The committee hopes to open the school in fall 2027. Siegel said the first class will act as a “pilot program.” It will also be the first high school in the district to have a lottery-based admission process.
Siegel also noted the program will have flexibility, allowing students enrolled in other high schools to put their names into the lottery system if spots open up. Students who are enrolled in the program can also transfer out if needed.
“I think it’s just as important for them to find out what they’re not interested in as to what they’re interested in,” she said.
Several School Board members spoke in support of the high school, praising the program’s professional opportunities.
“We hope to inspire early exploration and the health scientists are welcoming hands-on learning, that they’ll have real world skills and keep future paths open,” Siegel said.
Most of the praise came from board member Suzette Waters, who currently works in the healthcare industry.
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“You’re going to have every physician and office in town attending your focus groups and be like, ‘Can I get some of your students to work for me one day when they graduate?’” Waters said.
Noelle Gilzow, the president of Columbia Missouri National Education Association and a science teacher at Hickman High School, who speaks at board meetings following public comment, said the idea of a health high school intrigues her, but she has hesitation.
“When I see energy and resources being directed to support structures outside of the classroom, it does gives me a little pause,” Gilzow said.
She made a comparison between body systems and education, and said the most important units of those systems are often forgotten, similarly to teachers.
She used that comparison to ask when Columbia teachers will get competitive wages.
“CPS teachers are the functional units of the entire system,” Gilzow said. “I hope we all recognize that fact.”
Public comment
Tonya Avery spoke tearfully regarding graduation practices within the district.
She’s the mother of Evan Avery, a sophomore at Rock Bridge High School who died in 2023 after a car crash. He would have graduated in May.
Tonya said she advocated for Rock Bridge to read her son’s name at this year’s graduation ceremony — a fight she said she hopes no other family will have to have.
She recommended, in future graduation ceremonies, students who have died have their names read aloud and included in the program along with a cap, a gown and a photo of them placed in a designated chair, as well as an honorary diploma.
“As a grieved mother, I was not looking for another memorial service,” Avery said. “It was about hearing my child’s name read in a space that he should still be in.”
SROs and Safety and Security Presentation
Ken Gregory, the district’s director of safety and security, presented a district-prepared evaluation of the Safety and Security Program to the board.
He cited an increase in cameras installed around the district and weapon detection systems installed across all high schools.
School Board member Jeanne Snodgrass questioned how the cameras work regarding the privacy and security of students. Gregory said the cameras store footage for 30 days, unless it is needed for further analysis.
He also said safety in schools goes beyond physical security, emphasizing the importance of students feeling mentally safe at school.
“We talked about that psychological aspect of feeling safe,” Gregory said. “We say ‘Lock the doors’, you say ‘Walk through this system,’ but it’s more than that.”
Later in the meeting, the board discussed the 2026 school resource officer contract. School resource officers, SROs, are law enforcement officers that work in schools, monitoring and addressing student behavior.
The discussion gravitated towards the contract language, specifically regarding SROs’ authority to question students or remove them from campus.
