Construction on Washington’s new middle school facilities isn’t set to begin until 2023, but the district is already looking at how increased market costs may impact their budget.

As Superintendent Willie Stone was absent at the most recent school board meeting, Business Manager Jeff Dieleman said that the project was placed as a discussion item as Stone wants the board to begin discussions on how the current construction environment might affect the project if the cost exceeds their $25 million bond. District Technology Director Jeff Brock states that representatives of contract manager Carl A. Nelson shared that with how bids have come in on other recent projects, the district probably won’t be able to afford to bid out the entire project at this time, “I think it’s going to be critical in how we lay out the project and maybe we look at it in bidding pieces at a time. Maybe doing the addition at the high school first and seeing what the market conditions are like and kind of push this out another year to final completion.”

A bond referendum was passed in September to build single and two-story additions to the high school to house the middle school students, and since then they have sold five of the $25 million of bonds. The board anticipates discussing the project further during a work session this month.