The defeat of a bill to exempt school construction projects from prevailing wage means Warren County Public Schools won’t get relief from unexpected construction costs to expand middle schools.

District Superintendent Rob Clayton said expanding middle schools to accommodate sixth-graders would cost the district a projected $27 million. The original price point of the project was between $16 million and $17 million in 2014, he said.

The Kentucky Labor Cabinet defines prevailing wage as “the hourly base wage and fringe rate paid to workers, laborers and mechanics of each classification when working on public works projects that are estimated to cost more than $250,000.”

Before it was defeated in a Kentucky House committee, Senate Bill 9 would have exempted “elementary, secondary or postsecondary education buildings and facilities” from the definition of public works. Essentially, that would mean freeing school districts and postsecondary institutions from prevailing wage requirements.

Clayton said the cost of complying raises costs for a construction project by 20 percent to 30 percent. He supports exempting educational construction projects from the law.

“School districts are strapped financially all across the state and school facilities are an integral part of the experience for our students,” he said. “Therefore, we need to be able to build our schools as efficiently as possible.”

Proposed changes to attendance zones for the district’s elementary schools were tabled in January following news that the projected construction was exceeding expected costs. Clayton said a variety of factors led to the cost increase. One significant cost is increasing the size of cafeterias at three middle schools to create multipurpose space, which would involve roof work.

“The district has the money to do it,” he said. “But the challenge is, do you place that many resources into one project and put yourself in a tighter situation to address other facility needs across the district?”

The Warren County Board of Education is expected to make a decision on the boundary changes during a school board meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at South Warren High School.

Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, which is a group of unions, opposed Senate Bill 9.

“We feel like it is a good public policy that has protected the wages of workers in the construction industry,” he said.

The downside to exemptions from prevailing wage law, Londrigan said, is that workers’ wages are lowered and the best workers are replaced by unskilled workers willing to work for less money.

He doesn’t buy claims that wages make up large price increases for projects and said there needs to be a floor to protect those working to improve the state’s infrastructure.

— Follow education and general assignment reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter at twitter.com/aaron_muddbgdn or visit bgdailynews.com.