Spokane Public Schools says the district is on track for bond-funded projects to come in $47.9 million below budget, and it hopes to use $21.4 million of that savings to do two projects it hadn't expected to fund with the 2009 bond measure.

The new projects would include a $16 million classroom addition at North Central High School and a $9.4 million addition at Mullan Road Elementary School that would be infused with $5.4 million of the savings, says Mark Anderson, the district's associate superintendent for school support services.

The school board will review recommendations for the projects and could approve them at its Aug. 22 meeting, Anderson says.

"We're not proposing to spend it all, now," he says of the projected savings. "We still have a way to go. We're going to save the rest until we make sure all projects come in under budget."

All of the projects in the $288 million bond measure approved by voters in 2009 are scheduled to be completed by spring 2016.

The North Central High School project would include a 30,000-square-foot classroom addition to the school at 1600 N. Howard, Anderson says. The addition would consolidate the science department and the school's Institute of Science and Technology, and it would include classroom space currently located in an annex building and six portable classrooms across campus near Washington Street, he says.

The added space also would accommodate future enrollment growth and provide for new programs at the high school, Anderson says.

The Mullan Road Elementary School project would replace 10 classrooms and support space currently located in the 56-year-old Comstock addition, which was moved to the school site at 2616 E. 63rd from Comstock Park in 1977.

Under the bond measure, Mullan Road had been expected to receive $4 million in improvements to the roof, flooring, and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system, mostly in the Comstock addition. However, that money could be used better if combined with the additional $5.4 million to construct a new classroom addition rather than update the old one, Anderson contends.

The Mullan Road project would create a more modern facility and consolidate staff and students in one building, he says.

The school district is realizing savings through lower-than-anticipated construction costs for bond-funded projects, Anderson says.

For instance, the Ferris High School modernization and replacement project at 3020 E. 37th is running about 17 percent under budget so far, says Greg Brown, the district's director of capital projects. The estimated construction cost for the project, which is about one-third complete, now is $59 million, for work originally estimated at $71 million, Brown says.

The total anticipated savings on current bond projects are much greater than they were for projects funded earlier through a $165 million, 2003 bond measure, which included the $74 million Shadle Park High School expansion and modernization project.

"Construction costs went out of this world," following the earlier bond approval, Anderson says. "We were kind of biting our fingernails over whether we could get Shadle done."

Rising costs then were factored into cost estimates for projects to be funded by the 2009 bond measure, Anderson says. The construction environment changed, however, after voters approved the 2009 bond, he says.

"That's when the market fell," Anderson says. "Building stopped, so construction costs started declining significantly. It's unusual going from escalating costs to decreasing costs in a short time period."

If the board approves the North Central and Mullan Road recommendations, the projects most likely would go to the design stage next year, and the district would solicit construction bids the following year, Anderson says. Ideally, the projects would be completed in three years, he says.

Anderson says additional projects likely will be proposed if the savings continue to pan out.

"They would have to go through the same process of identifying the needs, holding a public hearing, and recommending the projects to the board," Anderson says.