A plan to build a 750-student elementary school is moving forward, although some members of Warren County Public Schools’ Board of Education raised concerns Monday about early cost estimates exceeding $20 million.

The figure was included in the district’s BG-1 project application form submitted to the Kentucky Department of Education. Total construction cost tops out at $17.2 million, but architect, construction manager and other fees bring the total to $20,399,941.00.

Board member Don Basham wondered about cost increases and compared the project to a previous elementary school that cost $11 million to $12 million.

“That much money is scary,” Basham said after the meeting.

He said he remains “hopeful” the cost will decrease with the General Assembly’s recent repeal of prevailing wage. The state’s prevailing wage law previously required workers on public projects to be paid a higher wage, which ultimately costs school districts more money.

Basham expects the project’s cost to narrow once that savings is factored in.

“We’re probably going to be way under that,” he said. “At least that’s the hope.”

Board members also heard an update from architect Justin McElfresh of Sherman Carter Barnhart, who said the designs have incorporated a new level of feedback. McElfresh showed a new image of the school’s great hall and lobby area, which features colorful boxes lined up along the base of the walls.

“The colored boxes that you see is actually an idea about how we can begin to use even the corridors and the great hall space as educational type breakout space for student learning,” he said.

When Basham noticed the large picture displays on both walls in the great hall space, he suggested displaying free art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The museum recently announced it was making about 375,000 artworks free to use and downloadable online, according to the New York Times.

“You could have these great works of art for these kids to see right there in the hall way,” he said at the meeting.

Four classrooms will function as preschool classrooms with outdoor access, McElfresh said. The media center will also have the ability to partition off two classrooms and allow the rest of the space to function, he said, adding it was included following discussion at a previous school board meeting.

McElfresh also shared an image of the cafeteria, which doubles as an auditorium with pull-out bleachers and acoustic ceiling panels.

In other board business, the board heard presentation of gifted education and a new mental health resource website the district is preparing to go live with.

Lorie Richey, who supervises the district’s gifted and talented program, said the district has more than 1,000 gifted students at the elementary level, 572 at the middle school level and more than 1,000 at the high school level.

Todd Hazel, director of student services, presented a website that includes information on grief management, depression and suicide prevention, along with other mental health issues students might face. The website also includes contact information for school counselors and other resources available locally. The site is not yet live and is still being developed.