• Legislative Priorities
    Columbia Board of Education 2023-2024

    School Board Governance and Operations

    We support:

    • Local authority for decision making regarding school calendar, open enrollment, curricular decisions, class size, and charter school.
    • Local school board elections taking place in April, a non-partisan election date

    Financing and Funding

    We support:

    • Full funding of the foundation formula; maintain integrity of current foundation formula; nonnegotiable and with no further downward changes to adequacy targets1
    • Work to address the impending teacher shortage by dedicating State funds for the recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers
    • Funding summer school2
    • Full funding for school bus transportation, including funding for early childhood transportation3
    • Full funding of mandates at federal (ESSA, IDEA, McKinney-Vento, Title I) and state levels (dyslexia screening)
    • Legislation to enhance federal and state funding, such as cigarette tax, Internet use tax, fuel tax
    • Equivalent distribution of state funds to meet any state teacher pay minimum increases, even when districts may already be above the state minimum.
    • Local discretion in the use of teacher stipends to meet building needs and incentivize high growth

    We oppose:

    • Diverting state funds from public schools by any means, including tuition tax credits/vouchers
    • Redirecting resources from public schools to unproven charter schools until the charter reforms passed in 2012 are implemented and proven effective

    School, Community, and Family Relations

    We support:

    • Full funding for quality, voluntary early childhood education4
    • Funding for career and technical education and career development programs5
    • Continuation of the current independence, structure, and governance of the Missouri State High School Activities Association
    • Legislation that recognizes the Internet as a utility and makes possible internet access, reliability, and speed throughout Missouri
    • Legislation that promotes an educational experience free from prejudice against a student’s race, color, socioeconomic status or class, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, ability, age or genetic information.
    1. For the 2023-24 school year CPS is anticipated to receive approximately $65.7 million in state foundation formula funding. If the state adequacy target was currently operating as prescribed in the foundation formula when written in 2006-2007, CPS would receive over $12 million in additional state funding.
    2. CPS currently spends approximately $4.8 million to operate the summer school program.
    3. For the 2023-24 school year, CPS’s transportation budget is estimated at $13.0 million, while state funding for transportation is anticipated at $6.1 million.
    4. For the 2023-24 school year, CPS’s early childhood education budget is estimated to exceed $4.5 million, which includes local, federal, and state funded early childhood programs in the District.
    5. For the 2023-24 school year, CPS’s career and technical education budgets are anticipated to exceed $4.7 million. Revenue received in state and federal vocation aid is estimated at $600,000 annually.