GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE – The latest cost estimates for the new K-8 school at Grand Forks Air Force Base are about $76 million, although that estimate does not include “à la carte” options such as an early childhood center and a combination auditorium-gym.

Grand Forks Air Force Base School Board members on Tuesday signed new design plans for the new Nathan Twining Elementary and Middle School, with construction scheduled to begin next spring.

The school board that oversees Twining is comprised of five members, whose members are appointed by the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, unlike Grand Forks’ locally elected school board.

McGrath Construction estimates construction costs, including design and demolition costs, at $66 million plus $8 million in incidental costs.

This is more or less the target of a cost model presented at a steering committee meeting in May, project documents show.

“Overall, there is broad agreement between the conceptual cost model and the schematic design estimate, and there is much more certainty regarding pricing,” said project architect Andrew Budke of JLG.

The new plans also include $12 million worth of additional options, including a “flexible learning studio” and a solar array to power the building and reduce its carbon footprint.

Board members must decide whether to include those costs before bidding on the rest of the construction, Budke told the Herald, and that should happen early next year.

80 percent of the construction costs will be covered by two grants from the Ministry of Defense, the rest will be covered by local grants.

Economic manager Brandon Baumbach said spending on the new school would depend largely on how much the Air Force Base District can contribute toward its 20% share of the cost.

“We need to look at this internally and find a solution for that 20%,” he told the Herald.

Baumbach said the district will likely pay its share from federal financial aid that covers the base’s ongoing operating costs and will also use a program through the Bank of North Dakota that offers a 2 percent fixed-interest loan toward the cost of building the school.

While some area politicians expressed support for providing state funding for the new school, Baumbach said the district does not expect state funds to cover its share of the costs.

“We just didn’t know they would be there with the grants,” Baumbach said. “This school construction loan program is designed to lend money at a low interest rate. But as far as grants go, this is something you’ve never seen anywhere in the state.”

Baumbach also said the district does not expect to have to use the tax revenue the Air Force Base School District plans to generate from the Grand Sky airfield.

The school district has attempted to challenge the Larimore Public School District’s receipt of the funds under tax jurisdiction established before the air base and school district were established in 1989.

The two districts have not yet submitted a joint request for legal advice to North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley, from whom both parties hope to make a decision on which agency should receive the funds.

Joshua Irvine covers K-12 and higher education and the Grand Forks County Commission for the Grand Forks Herald. He joined the Herald in October 2023.