A proposal to build a new Lake Wilderness Elementary School was presented to the Tahoma School Board Tuesday.

The previous plan for the school was to remodel the aging building.

The remodel was set to occur after the new high school opens in the fall of 2017. However, building a new school for Lake Wilderness students would result in it opening at the same time as the high school.

“All along, the hope was to be able to build a new Lake Wilderness Elementary School,” said Lori Cloud, assistant superintendent. “Remodeling would provide us with a good school, but we now have an opportunity to build something much better.”

This new plan is being considered because of the cost savings on the new high school and other improvement projects, according to a news release from the district.

When construction began on the new high school project, a contingency fund was set up, as is typical for any construction project.

But, because there have been none of the anticipated issues with the project’s initial phases, some of that contingency money has been freed up. The district has a total savings so far of $23.4 million. With the additional $18 million that was already earmarked for the Lake Wilderness remodel, the district now says they have enough money to build a new school.

The district has also had additional revenue coming in from impact fees from new construction in the city and county. Kevin Patterson, spokesperson for the district, said impact fee revenue is earmarked for capital projects, and is typically used to purchase portable classrooms because there is usually not enough money by itself to build a new school.

The plan is the new school would be built where the current playfield is now, said Patterson.

After construction is complete, the old school will be demolished to make room for more parking, bus lanes and a play area.

When asked if the district could have used the savings from the high school project to fund various programs throughout the district, Patterson said it could not.

“Construction money has to be in one pot and operating money in another, you can’t mix them,” he said.

After the new high school is complete, the district’s current buildings will be reconfigured to have a total of six elementary schools instead of the current four.

The remodel plan for Lake Wilderness was to allow the school to house 550 students, shifting almost half of the current students to other schools in the district.

With the new plan, 200 seats would be added for a total of 750 students.

Patterson said this could help mitigate the smaller class sizes mandate and the state-wide all-day kindergarten that was set into motion recently.

“I am happy that we are in the position to be considering a new building,” said Tami Henkel, Tahoma School Board president. “Our board always has the best interest of the students and will make a decision that benefits our community.”

The board heard details about building the school but did not vote on the plan at the Tuesday meeting.