Columbia Public Schools outline $224 million budget

Columbia Public Schools chief financial officer Heather McArthur said the 2018-19 budget prioritizes employee pay and benefits.

McArthur outlined the budget during a special Columbia Board of Education meeting on Wednesday. The $224 million operating budget expects a $6.5 million increase in teacher salary, which constitutes 43 percent of the district’s budget.

McArthur said the district would have nearly $9 million in surplus money from the current year. That would go into the district’s savings account, and help it with the costs of opening a new middle school in 2020.

The board has until the end of the month to approve the budget. It plans on voting on the budget next Monday.

Kathy Steinhoff, head of the Columbia Missouri National Education Association, said she appreciated the focus on teacher pay, but said the surplus money could go toward helping teachers. She said the district could make one-time purchases of school supplies for individual classrooms.

“I’m concerned that we’ll never make significant movement with our comparable districts without future tax levies partnered with more scrutiny for the programs and services that we currently offer,” Steinhoff said.

Board member James Whitt said he agreed with Steinhoff that the district needed to pay attention to programs it spends money on.

“We should do that on a regular basis, make sure that whatever we’re investing our money in really contributes to student achievement,” Whitt said.