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Below the overview of the district are links to KBIA's coverage of Columbia 93 district schools, updated as more stories are published. Columbia 93 at a glanceThe Columbia 93 school district currently includes 32 different schools. In 2014, the district had a k-12 enrollment of 17,204 students, which is 2% of the total k-12 enrollment for the state. Enrollment has been slightly increasing in recent years, 2% since 2011. While a small percent, that amounts to almost 400 more students. There have also been major re-drawing of attendance areas with the addition of Battle High School. Middle school attendance areas shape high school boundaries 00000178-cc7d-da8b-a77d-ec7d2f9e0000The changes have affected all schools in the district, including causing high school attendance to increase and overcrowding at one middle school at least.

Columbia Public Schools considers hiring permanant substitute teachers

Teacher Denise Lasley uses an iPad at Benton Elementary School.
Lee Jian Chung
/
KBIA
Teacher Denise Lasley uses an iPad at Benton Elementary School.

Columbia Public Schools are having a difficult time finding enough part-time substitute teachers. So the School District is considering hiring full-time substitutes to help solve the problem. Columbia Public Schools’ spokesperson Michelle Baumstark explains full-time substitutes would have to fill in wherever they were assigned. Part-time substitutes don’t have to.

“Our substitutes have the option to turn down an open opportunity for a sub and often times what happens is that it’s our more challenging positions that we struggle to fill," Baumstark says. "If we were to have 30 permanent substitutes on staff, they would be able to fill those positions which are frequently the ones that are turned down.”

Baumstark says hiring full-time substitutes is beneficial to student learning. Hiring the teachers would cost the District more than $350,000. Baumstark says The School Board will decide whether to approve that spending in the near future.