Columbia Board of Realtors hosts first candidate forum for April elections

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Board of Realtors hosted the first candidate forum for the 2026 municipal elections in April. Candidates for the Columbia School Board and City Council introduced themselves and spoke on a variety of topics.

Four candidates are running for three open seats on the school board. Those candidates include current school board members seeking reelection: Board President John Lyman, Board Vice President Paul Harper, and Board Member April Ferrao. They are joined by trauma surgeon and CPS parent Keary Husain, who is running for the first time.

The candidates for the school board discussed a wide variety of topics, including behavior intervention, teacher retention, healthcare, charter schools, attendance and many other issues.

"We know that students who are in seat 90% of the time or more do significantly better on all of those standardized tests," Board President John Lyman said.

"If you're in seat 90% of the time or more, you scored twice as well on those tests as if you don't."

Keary Husain is running for one of the three available seats on the school board. A Columbia native, Husain is a surgeon who, according to his campaign website, has expertise on trauma and critical care.

"Being an educator myself, maybe not in the primary or secondary school type of areas, but certainly at that level...makes me sort of the obvious candidate, because that's where I would come, where I care," Husain said at the forum.

Don Waterman, council member for the fifth ward, is running for reelection against local business owner Christina Hartman. First ward council member Valerie Caroll is running unopposed.

The local municipal elections will be held on April 7.