Before the Lawrence school district can save money through buying applesauce, trash can liners and a variety of instructional supplies by the pallet — make that dozens, even hundreds of pallets — it’ll first need to spend some money to make room for all the goods.

The proposed solution: lease warehouse space near Walmart and Home Depot.

Monday night, members of the Lawrence school board will consider leasing a 12,000-square-foot building at 1811 W. 31st St. for use as a bulk-storage and distribution center.

The district would pay $4,200 a month for the building, the former home of Western Extralite Co.’s Lawrence operations. The building is equipped with overhead doors and enough large open space to handle 500 pallets of bulk items, or more than twice as much allowed by the district’s current warehouse capacity.

“We’re ordering in such small capacities, we’re getting no economies of scale,” said Rick Doll, district superintendent.

The lease is necessary if the district is to move forward with its plan to boost its bulk purchases of food, custodial supplies, copy paper and other items, officials said. Even including the $50,400 in lease payments for the year, the district still would expect to save at least $100,000 overall during the next school year on such purchases.

The $100,000 in projected savings is among a number of other operational, personnel and budgeting changes endorsed by the board to fill an expected $3 million loss in state financing for next year.

Also on the agenda for the board meeting, set for 7 p.m. Monday at district headquarters, 110 McDonald Drive:

l Review the District Improvement Plan, a document compiled in response to a visit from consultants and educators through the Kansas Learning Network.

l Receive a report from the district’s Fringe Benefits Committee.

l Receive an update about upgrades planned for Lawrence High School’s athletics fields, to be financed by donations.