Kansas City 33 School District is a major provider of public elementary and secondary education in Kansas City. It is also one of the most comprehensive magnet school systems in the country.
The following is a summary of data regarding the Kansas City 33 School District as of the 2003–2004 school year.
Total enrollment: 35,964
Number of facilities
elementary schools: 61
middle schools: 9
senior high schools: 18
other: 23 magnet schools; 6 alternative schools
Student/teacher ratio: 12:1
Teacher salaries
average: $41,356 (2004)
Funding per pupil: $9,813
More than 150 private and parochial schools operate in the metropolitan area.
Public Schools Information: Kansas City School District 33, 1211 McGee, Kansas City, MO 64106; telephone (816)418-7000
Kansas City is home to several colleges and universities. The largest institution is the University of Missouri at Kansas City, with an enrollment of about 15,000 students. Granting baccalaureate, first-professional, master's, and doctorate degrees, the university operates a College of Arts and Sciences, a conservatory of music, and schools of business and public administration, computing and engineering, education, law, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, medicine, and biological sciences.
Undergraduate and graduate degrees are awarded in specialized and professional areas by a number of the area's colleges. The Kansas City Art Institute, which began as a sketch club in 1885, offers a four-year fine and applied arts curriculum. Church-related institutions in the city include Avila College, which serves 1,800 undergraduate and graduate students in average class sizes of 18; MidAmerica Nazarene University, which offers bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as a Play Therapy Certificate Program and an adult-friendly Accelerated Associate of Arts; and Rockhurst University, a Jesuit institution that awards bachelor's and master's degrees in several programs and also awards nursing degrees to students at the Research College of Nursing. An extended campus of Central Missouri University offers courses and Internet classes in Kansas City.
Approximately 60 libraries are maintained in Kansas City by public agencies, educational institutions, private corporations, cultural organizations, hospitals, and churches and synagogues. The Kansas City Public Library, with holdings of over 2 million volumes and more than 34,000 periodical subscriptions, operates 10 branches, including the new $50 million Central Library Branch unveiled in 2004 and the Plaza Branch opened in April 2005. Special collections include African American history, Missouri Valley history and genealogy, oral history, and federal and state government documents.
The Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology is one of the largest privately endowed libraries of its kind in the country, holding more than 1 million volumes and more than 15,000 periodicals. Special collections include National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Department of Energy technical reports, Soviet and European scientific and technical publications, and United States patent specifications. The Kansas City Branch of the National Archives and Records Administration holds records of various federal government agencies. The University of Missouri–Kansas City operates four facilities, specializing in law, dentistry, health sciences, and the humanities.
The 600,000-square-foot Stowers Institute for Medical Research boasts one of the nation's finest laboratory complexes dedicated to conducting basic research into complex genetic systems to unlock the mysteries of disease and find the key to their causes, treatment, and prevention. Jim and Virginia Stowers have committed $300 to build a second facility as large as the first, which already enjoys a nearly $2 billion endowment.
Public Library Information: Kansas City Public Library, 14 West 10th St., Kansas City, MO 64105; telephone (816)701-3400; fax (816)701-3401