The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has approved another major school bond spending adjustment –m this time bringing the total project budget for the new Erwin Montessori School to just over $51 million.
At its first August meeting, the board approved a $39.5 million increase in the Erwin Montessori project ordinance to provide the money needed to complete construction of the new school at the former Archer Elementary School site.
That doesn’t mean the school suddenly became $39.5 million more expensive: Most of that money was always anticipated for the construction phase but hadn’t yet been appropriated to the project.
However, the final projected cost of the school did come in about $3.3 million higher than the amount originally programmed for the project, according to information provided to the commissioners.
County officials attributed the increase primarily to higher site preparation and other onsite costs.
The new Erwin Montessori will be a 71,361-square-foot magnet school designed to serve about 350 students.
The total project budget is now $51,031,620. The amended project ordinance shows that commissioners initially approved $8.4 million for the project in April 2021, added another $3.2 million in June 2025 and approved another $39.5 million on Aug. 6.
The Guilford County Board of Education approved a guaranteed maximum price of $36.9 million for construction on July 28.
One reason the overall project cost is considerably higher than the construction contract itself is the unusually high cost of preparing the site. According to information provided to the county commisssioners onsite costs for Erwin Montessori are about $10.7 million, compared with an average of about $7.8 million for Guilford County Schools elementary projects.
The actual building construction cost is listed at $408.23 per square foot. That is below both the GCS elementary school average of $418.55 per square foot and the statewide elementary school average of $421.62 per square foot.
The school is also smaller than the average elementary school used for comparison by both Guilford County Schools and other counties.
Erwin Montessori currently serves about 275 students. The replacement school is designed for 350 students and the 15-year enrollment projection is also 350 students.
By comparison, the average GCS elementary school serves 448 students and the comparable-county average cited in the commissioners’ agenda material is 465 students.
The $3.3 million needed above the previously programmed amount is being covered with money left over from other school bond projects rather than through additional borrowing beyond the already approved school bond program.
The commissioners reduced the Claxton Elementary project ordinance by $1.2 million. Claxton’s revised project budget is $49.1 million.
Another $2.1 million is being transferred from a completed project.
GCS officials told the county that the transferred money was available because the Claxton and Peeler-Hampton projects had opened and had unused construction funds.
The commissioners and school board have been moving the projects financed by the county’s two massive school bond referendums forward in stages rather than appropriating the entire anticipated cost of each project at the beginning.
Guilford County voters approved $300 million in school bonds in 2020 and another $1.7 billion in 2022, for a combined $2 billion school construction program.
For Erwin Montessori, the first $8.4 million appropriation covered design and pre-construction work. The additional $3.2 million approved last year covered early construction work including site preparation, utility infrastructure and the advance purchase of materials with long delivery times.
The latest appropriation gives GCS access to the rest of the funding needed to complete the school.
