PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – With inflation continuing to be the norm, Portage Public Schools is making some adjustments in their construction plans for new schools under it’s Building the Future of Learning Elementary project.
School officials said on Monday, May 8 the original budget for the entire project was created in 2019, a year before the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed the economy.
They say now that with the current cost of material, supplies, and labor, the $175 million bond slated to handle the original construction plan will come up short, whereas before that same bond would have funded five new elementary schools and a remodel of Moorsbridge Elementary School.
Officials say that in today’s economy, the new Central Elementary School, despite being less than half the square footage of the new Central Middle School which was built prior to the pandemic, will actually cost more to construct.
As a part of the adjustments, PPS has now selected Woodland Elementary to be the third school to be replaced, rather than Amberly Elementary. That change, officials say, was made partly because students at Woodland would not be able to remain in their current building during the work.
Construction is currently underway for the Central Elementary School with work to begin at Haverhill Elementary School later this summer. Both schools are scheduled to open in Fall of 2025.
Construction on Woodland is set to begin in the summer of 2025 and is expected to be finished in Fall of 2027.
