The decision by the Lawrence school board to use a construction-manager-at-risk process for much of its recently approved $87 million bond issue for secondary schools is reasonable.

Under the process, the school district hires a construction manager to deliver the project within a guaranteed maximum price. The district used the process to complete much of the 2013 $92 million bond issue for elementary schools.

Last week, the school board chose Kansas City-based McCownGordon as the construction manager for much of the renovations at the district’s two high schools and four middle schools. McCownGordon was selected from a pool of 10 potential contractors that the district reviewed. Work on the projects is expected to begin next summer.

McCownGordon will take on $68 million in work while MarLan Construction of Lawrence will oversee about $600,000 in renovations at the Lawrence College and Career Center.

The alternative would be to seek bids for each individual project. The construction-manager-at-risk process allows the project owner more “control over the process,” school board president Shannon Kimball said.

“We have felt like we’ve always had better outcomes in terms of our working relationships with the companies, attention to things like safety and quality materials and that sort of thing,” Kimball said. “It’s just a better set-up for the kinds of projects that we’re doing.”

McCownGordon has extensive experience working with the school district. The firm managed construction of several of the 2013 bond issue projects, including projects at Pinckney, Sunflower, Broken Arrow, Prairie Park and Quail Run elementary schools.

District officials said McCownGordon has strong relationships with Lawrence-based contractors and that local contractors will be used for much of the work. Approximately 70 percent of subcontractors on the 2013 renovations came from within 30 miles of Lawrence, the district said.

Kyle Hayden, the district’s former superintendent and current chief operations officer, will work with McCownGordon to ensure the projects are brought in on deadline and on budget.

Some might argue that the district could get better pricing by seeking individual bids on each project. But there’s no evidence that’s the case, and it’s more efficient for the district to have McCownGordon oversee the process.

The district has a successful track record of using the construction-manager approach-at-risk approach. It makes sense to use the process for the 2017 bond issue.