Mitchell Kaminski
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Monday night’s Columbia Board of Education meeting was abruptly halted after a group of residents protested the district’s decision to replace its chief equity officer.
Last week, Columbia Public Schools posted a job opening for chief equity officer, a position previously held by Carla London. London was responsible for training homeschool communicators and overseeing data to reduce educational disparities.
During Monday’s board meeting, several speakers criticized the decision, accusing the board of voting 6-1 to replace her. Three people had signed up to speak, including representatives of Homeschool Communicators, who said the move eroded trust and conflicted with the district’s values.
After the scheduled speakers finished, additional attendees who had not signed up requested to speak, but the board denied the request. Following a tense exchange in which the board threatened to call security, Board President John Lyman called for a 10-minute recess, as a group of attendees began singing “We Shall Overcome” in protest.
Following the recess, the board voted to allow three additional speakers. All three continued to voice their support for London and condemned the district’s decision, which included a representative from the NAACP.
Employee salary increases approved
The Board of Education also approved an increase in employee salaries across the district. The plan includes a recommended increase of $14.2 million to the 2026-27 operating budget.
This includes $5.4 million in increased salaries and $848,551 in fully funded benefit costs.
Currently, the average CPS employee salary is sitting at $58,806, with teachers averaging $63,940. The changes will bump the average employee salary up to $61,816, with teachers averaging $65,101 in the next fiscal year.
According to a presentation from CPS Chief Financial Officer Heather McArthur, the district is also looking to add 18 new full-time positions at a cost of $1.1 million. On top of the 18 extra full-time staff members the changes will include budgeting for 27 positions that were previously funded by grants. This included six elementary instructional coaches, seven middle school instructional mentors and eight english learning instructional aids.
CPS officials also recommended that the board create a new position, executive director of alternative education, who would also serve as principal at Douglass High School. The role would oversee alternative education programs across the district.
To counter the changes, the district will eliminate three full-time positions, which is estimated to free up $660,000 in the budget. This includes the Director of Assessment, Intervention, and Data, the Assistant Director of the Columbia Area Career Center, and the Coordinator of Secondary Gifted Education, which will be converted to K-12. McArthur tells ABC 17 News that all three positions are currently held by employees who are either retiring or resigning by the end of the year, and that the district is choosing not to fill them.
The school board also voted in favor of a collective bargaining agreement with the Columbia Missouri National Education Association.
The tentative agreement was reached on Feb. 27 and ratified by CMNEA members in April. The agreement includes a $1,400 base salary increase, raising the minimum salary from $44,200 to $45,600, and adds one contract day for a total of 188 days. The additional day will be teacher-directed.
The changes carry an estimated $3.2 million cost for salary adjustments and about $4.2 million overall, including related retirement and payroll expenses. The agreement also extends the salary schedule to 32 years, creates a new pay scale for speech-language pathologists and updates the learning specialist salary schedule to aid recruitment and retention.
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Emanuele Zappala, assistant professor of mathematics at Idaho State University, and a student pose for a photo. (ISU)
