New Los Banos junior high school estimated at $27 million

School district officials had to deal with sticker shock last week after being confronted with an estimate that was $10 million more than they were expecting for construction of a new junior high school.

Andree Soares, Los Banos Unified School District board of trustees president, said the board was disappointed in what it was told the new school would cost. District officials believed they could build the campus for $17.4 million, but an estimate presented to the board last week was $27 million.

The district is considering borrowing $18 million and using $8million in funding left over from a $44 million 2008 bond measure used for the construction of Pacheco High School.

Superintendent Steve Tietjen said that Mercey Springs Elementary School recently moved up on the state’s list of school construction projects, meaning the district is closer to recouping money it is owed for building the school.

Tietjen said some of that money could go toward constructing a new junior high.

The school board is expected to vote on a funding plan Thursday. In December, the board is slated to vote on a contract for the construction.

Building the new school is a priority, officials have said, because Los Banos Junior High is severely overcrowded, with an enrollment of about 1,570 students on a campus built for 900.

Soares said having a second junior high is a safety issue that outweighs financial concerns.

“There is some risk to the district, but there is more risk to the students in doing nothing,” she said.

In the past few months there have been several variations in what type of campus the district will build.

The district previously proposed an $11 million to $13 million school with 20 classrooms to serve nearly 650 students. The plans did not include a locker room, gymnasium-multipurpose room or cafeteria. It was subsequently replaced by a 760-student school with a gymnasium-multipurpose room, locker room and cafeteria at a cost of $17.4 million.

Tietjen said the new junior high will have the same amenities as the current campus, but the district’s hope that the price of materials had decreased turned out to be unfounded.

“Concrete prices haven’t gone down, steel prices haven’t gone down, and this school has a steel frame,” he said.

Tietjen said the new junior high will be aesthetically pleasing but will lack some artistic design features because that would increase costs.

Some concerned Los Banos residents have suggested converting Westside Union Elementary School into a junior high, which it once was, and moving the students there now to Mercey Springs Elementary.

Tietjen said that plan would not work, because it would require a $15 million expansion of the Mercey Springs campus, Americans With Disabilities Act upgrades to Westside Elementary, and adding science rooms, more locker room space and additional field areas to accommodate junior high sports.

Soares said she is frustrated by the state not chipping in financially for the school’s construction.

In late July, Gov. Jerry Brown refused to place a school construction bond on the ballot. With residents passing a local school bond and developers agreeing to pay more mitigation fees, Soares compared the state’s non-participation to a stool missing its third leg.

Soares, who lost her re-election bid Tuesday, also said she was frustrated that only one of the challengers for school board seats, Anthony Parreira, attended last week’s special meeting on the junior high’s cost.

Tietjen said he hopes construction of a new junior high can begin in January.

This story was originally published November 11, 2014 at 4:43 PM with the headline "New Los Banos junior high school estimated at $27 million."