Officials gathered Dec. 15 to break ground on a new Bains Elementary School in St Francisville.
In August, Milton J. Womack Inc. submitted the low bid of $23,907,201 to build the new school on 15 acres adjacent to West Feliciana Middle School at Bains.
The elementary school project includes $1 million for road work to accommodate school traffic on Marydale Road
Ten firms submitted bids for the work, which is being financed with proceeds from a $52.6 million bond issue that voters approved in May 2019.
Because the base bid for the building construction, $23.34 million, was below the budgeted figure, the board also was able to accept the Womack firm’s $103,401 bid to install additional canopies on bus and carpool drop-off lanes and $463,800 for enhanced playground equipment.
Another contractor, Stuart and Co., cleared and graded the site and the locations for the school buildings under a $720,000 contract.
The Womack contract gives the firm 500 days to build the school.
A property tax will be used to repay the debt.