COLUMBIA — The Columbia School Board unanimously approved a $390.7 million budget for the 2026-27 school year at its meeting Monday.

Chief Financial Officer Heather McArthur presented a summary of the proposed budget again, as she did at a public hearing June 3. The vote was one of the last items on the Monday meeting’s agenda.

According to previous KOMU 8 reporting, the budget predicts spending to be nearly $11.7 million above expected revenue for next year.

Columbia Public Schools is planning to dip into reserves to cover the rising costs. Columbia School Board President John Lyman said he doesn’t know how much is in the reserves, but that the district is always watching to make sure there is enough money.

“A big part of the budget that we do is making sure that we always have at least three months worth of reserves in there,” Lyman said. “You’ve got to make sure you have those cash reserves for those expenses and things that you have.”

Lyman said one of the biggest changes from last year’s budget are the resources that are no longer granted by funding from the federal government. 

“So rather than cutting those services, cutting those programs and things for our students— we’re rolling that into our budget, so that we can keep that educational experience going,” Lyman said.

Health Science High School

The school board also heard a presentation from Director of Workforce Development Katie Siegel about the new Health Science High School that could be implemented as soon as Fall 2027.

The new school would partner with MU Health Care, and it would be considered a lottery status school. This would be the first high school lottery school in the district.

Before the presentation, Superintendent Jeff Klein noted the initiative is still in an ongoing process, but the steering committee overseeing this program wanted to share their progress and get more feedback.

Columbia Public Schools currently has five lottery schools that each have a specialized focus:

• Ridgeway Elementary School, which has individually guided education and multi-age classrooms
• Locust Street Expressive Arts Elementary School, an arts school
• Two Mile Prairie Elementary School, a school with an agriculture focus
• Benton Elementary School, which emphasizes science, technology, engineering and math
• Jefferson Middle School, a STEM and arts school (STEAM)

According to a presentation at Monday’s meeting, the curriculum for the school would be designed to support a healthcare-focused learning experience. This would include simulation labs, introduction to healthcare pathways and hands-on learning.

“The students would be arriving in their scrubs and their classes would be seen through a healthcare lens,” Siegel said. “In addition to the healthcare curriculum focus, they would also be visiting the hospital, they’d be doing job shadowing and they would also have a mentor through the MU Health Care system.”

Siegel said the small pilot program would launch in the 2027-28 school year and would be housed at one of the existing high schools.

For the past three or four years, Columbia Public Schools has been looking to have a new high school with a focused curriculum, district spokesperson Michelle Baumstark said. It wasn’t until six months ago that a steering committee started to put this plan into action.

Siegel noted the school would be modeled after other similar out-of-state programs, including a school in Houston.

According to Siegel’s presentation, MU Health Care and Columbia Public Schools will identify the pathways students will train for based on workforce shortages and community needs.

“As part of our workforce development implementation, we want to provide choice for our students,” Siegel said. “We’re looking to increase that local talent pipeline into healthcare right here in our community of Columbia.”

Lyman said he believes this program would be a good opportunity for the Columbia community.

“A lot of folks have family members who are in the medical field,” Lyman said. “So, bringing that down into our schools to where they can start to have some of those experiences to get ready for potentially going out and getting jobs in those fields, is a cool thing.”

Siegel said the next steps in developing the Health Science High School is to get community feedback and spread the word about this program by meeting with parents, surveying students and informing to incoming high school classes about the program. 

The cost of the new program is uncertain, as it is too early in the process to give an estimate, according to Baumstark.