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The construction price for the new Clark County Preschool has risen.

During Tuesday night’s board of education meeting, representatives from RossTarrant Architects, the Lexington-based firm hired to design the school, reported that the estimated construction cross for the project is now $17 million.

The estimated project cost is $20 million.

The price tag has gone up due to a rise in prices for goods such as steel and roofing material.

RossTarrant representatives said that there is a chance that building material prices will stabilize this summer, but they do not believe they will significantly drop.

The good news, according to RossTarrant, is that when the project goes to bid that the competition to build the school may drive the construction cost down.

Another strategy to keep costs down is to use uniform dimensions for things like classroom size.

The board of education voted in Oct. 2020 to approve plans for the new preschool after pleas from the community to replace the school’s current location at 30 Beckner St., which many consider to be badly outdated. At the time of approval, construction was estimated to cost $9.3 million.

In May of 2021, the board chose a 12-acre site behind Strode Station Elementary School for the new preschool’s new home over three other proposed locations.

Due to rising construction costs, RossTarrant representatives said that the estimated construction cost rose to $11.1 million in Sept. 2021.

At the January meeting where the board approved the project’s schematic plans, the estimate went up to $13.6 million.

The planned school will be a 42,466 square foot, 18 classroom facility that will accommodate 350 students with space left over to expand the building should enrollment increase.

A date to break ground on the facility will be determined once a contractor is chosen to build the school.