The Lawrence school board today moves ahead with planning what could become a $50 million bond issue for school building improvements.

“I feel very comfortable going to the community with something like that,” Scott Morgan, board president, said in an interview Wednesday.

A package of enhancements to be discussed today at a board study session includes $21.2 million to replace South Junior High School, $17.1 million to renovate the high schools and $9.9 million to expand Lawrence Alternative High School. It also would make additions to other schools to permit removal of all portable classrooms.

On the other side of the ledger, the deal would close three elementary schools  most likely Centennial, Riverside and East Heights  for a maximum savings of $14.1 million.

“I think it’s doable,” Morgan said. “We’ve got to see if the board and community think it’s doable.”

He said a $50 million bond issue would cost the owner of a $100,000 home in the district about $5 a month in property taxes for the term of the bonds.

Scott Fullerton, who has a first-grader at Riverside and has lobbied to keep the school open, said the district’s contract with DLR Group allowed the company to earn as much as $4.5 million on that size of a bond issue.

“I’ve got sticker shock on the whole thing,” he said. “Part of my problem is that we’re going to pay DLR more than what it would cost to keep our school open.”

The board’s study session is 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at district headquarters, 110 McDonald Drive. It’s a public meeting, but no pubic comment period is scheduled.

Board discussion of the bond issue will follow a presentation of options by DLR Group. The Overland Park engineering and architectural firm was hired last year to create a 20-year facilities master plan for the district. The company also is responsible for helping gain voter approval of a bond issue to pay for the first phase of upgrades. It operates on a contingency contract that pays it handsomely if the bond issues passes. That voter referendum will likely occur in April.

Supt. Randy Weseman, speaking Wednesday at a University Forum lecture at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries building near Kansas University, said community debate about facilities changes had already placed the current board under more pressure than any in the past 25 years.

“Emotions are running high when you’re talking about closing schools,” he said.

DLR Group was directed by the board to prepare a summary of master plan needs, including the cost of options. It would require investment of about $109.8 million in the next two decades to bring all 25 school buildings in the district up to the board’s new standards.

That wish list calls for spending $39.7 million for elementary schools, $21.2 million for South, $17.1 million to remodel high schools, $15.5 million for junior high renovation, $9.9 million for the alternative high school and $6.2 million for high school athletics.

Weseman said falling elementary enrollment and continuing state budget problems had forced the district to economize.

“In a town the size of Lawrence,” Weseman said, “we have to look at operational efficiencies. We have to examine how to deliver quality education at a price we can afford.”

 Staff writer Tim Carpenter can be reached at 832-7155.