Enlarging two schools will be cheaper than building a third, a financing subcommittee studying Lincoln-Way High School expansion was told Thursday night.
Supt. Lawrence Wyllie said the basic cost or “the very minimal thing that we need” would be $37.4 million to enlarge the two schools and $65.9 million to build a third high school for the district.
Enlarging the two schools, without any frills, would add $42.50 a year to the tax bill on a $150,000 home, officials said. Building a third school would add $77.50 to the tax bill of the same home.
School officials say surging enrollments are pushing the drive for expansion. If current trends continue, enrollment, which totals more than 4,000 students now, could exceed the capacity of the freshman-sophomore campus in Frankfort and the junior-senior campus in New Lenox by 2001.
The capacity of each of the two buildings is 2,500 students.