The Whitefish School District is chipping away at $1.3 million in excess costs it needs to remove from the new high school’s current design plans to ensure the project falls within the $19 million budget.

“The bottom line is we’ve got a long way to go still relative to pricing and budgeting, but we will get to where we need to be,” Bayard Dominick of Steeplechase Development Advisors told the school board Oct. 9. “There’s still a lot of hard work and hard choices to make.”

About 2,200 square feet has been added to the school since the original concept was presented. The bump in size is the result of an increase to classroom size.

The architects with DLR Group and general contractor, Langlas & Associates, continue to meet to get designs and bid estimates to reconcile with the budget.

Dominick said headway has already been made.

About $1 million in costs have already been eliminated from the project through adjustments in the engineering of the plans.

Further cost savings will come down to choices within the school design. For example, selecting the flooring material to use in some areas of the school could mean a difference of $29,000.

Dominick said education remains the priority.

“Our judgment of decision-making is first do no harm to education,” he said. “We are making sure the ultimate design maximizes the opportunity for a great education in Whitefish.”

An example of the choices the district’s budget and oversight committee may be faced with is fluorescent lighting versus LED lighting. The cost savings is estimated to be $96,000 to use flourescent.

Dominick said funding for LED lights, because they are more energy efficient, could come through a grant.

One item that has already been decided upon is acoustic ceiling tile. The difference in the tile came down to aesthetics, Dominick said, and so the less expensive tile was chosen for $162,000 in savings.

At the committee’s meeting last week trustee Shawn Tucker said the project estimates need to be within the budget at $19 million, so that if bids come back lower than expected the district has the option to add back in optional items.

“Then when we get to 100 percent of the bids back hopefully that gets us some more money,” he said. “My goal would be to get to $19 million and then figure it out.”

Ultimately the school district will go out for formal bids on the project next year.

Loren Cantrell with Langlas said his team is getting as many estimates from subcontractors as possible. Competitive bids will come when there are full construction drawings, he noted.

“Our job is to go through this two or three times and responsibly budget it so when you get to bid day it’s a good day,” he said. “If we’ve done our job in going through all these things and figuring out if these numbers are real then when you get to the bid you’re not losing time on redesign.”