Committee recommends three new schools in $61.2 million expansion

A school facility planning committee is recommending the Kalispell School District build two elementary schools and another middle school to address overcrowding.

The recommendation also includes remodeling the district’s five existing elementary schools. Overall, the additional schools and remodeling would cost an estimated $61.2 million.

The Kalispell Public Schools Board of Trustees is expected to consider the committee’s report at a business meeting in May or June, according to Kalispell Public Schools Superintendent Mark Flatau.

One new elementary school and the middle school would be located on school property south of Kalispell on Airport Road. In 2014 voters approved the purchase of the 25-acre Airport Road property for $420,000.

The second elementary school would be built north of Kalispell if the district is able to buy another 25 acres. The district has contacted a landowner to potentially purchase acreage west of Whitefish Stage Road in the vicinity of Easthaven Baptist Church. The price of the land purchase is not included in the construction cost estimate.

Out of the options presented, this scenario gives the district the most time before elementary buildings are anticipated to be at full capacity. The new elementary schools would be built to house 450 students and 600 at the additional middle school.

If enrollment grows by 2 percent annually it could be 2030 by the time all elementary facilities are at full capacity. By 2035, planners estimate the district would be facing a similar problem of overcrowding as it is now.

Somers-Lakeside School District is still considering sending its middle school students to a new middle school in Kalispell, if it is built. Somers-Lakeside Superintendent Paul Jenkins said the school board plans to survey the community soon before making a decision. While Somers-Lakeside taxpayers would not contribute to building a new middle school, the district would lose 170 to 200 students and an estimated $1 million in state funding to educate the students in Kalispell.

Flatau said Kalispell Public Schools anticipates requesting a bond issue in the fall.

The next facility committee meeting will be held at 6 p.m. May 4 at the H.E. Robinson Vocational Agriculture Education Center, where discussion will continue on Kalispell’s high school facilities.

The committee has met nine times since June.

Hilary Matheson is a reporter for The Daily Inter Lake. She may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.