The clock is ticking for Bismarck Public Schools to start expanding the Bismarck Early Childhood Education Program.

Architect proposals for the addition at the BECEP site at the former Richholt Elementary School are due Friday, the Head Start grant to help pay for the project needs to be spent by the end of the school year, and the district has a two-year lease on the BECEP location on Park Avenue that it sold.

The Bismarck School Board talked about the expansion at Richholt at its regular board meeting Monday night.

The project is anticipated to cost more than the $335,000 Head Start Grant and profits from selling two Park Avenue properties. The district budgeted $300,000 in the general fund for this project, business manager Ed Gerhardt said.

The district received a grant from Head Start earlier this year to use toward the construction project. Head start is a preschool program for families meeting income guidelines.

Moving the existing Head Start classrooms and other programs at the Park Avenue BECEP location to the Richholt location will add about 9,600 square feet of space. The Head Start classroom at Riverside Elementary School will stay open.

At $125 per square foot for classroom space, $100 per square foot for office space, $35 per square foot for remodeled space and about $1,750 per parking space, it could cost about $900,000.

"Maybe 'probable' should be bold and highlighted," Facilities and Transportation Director Darin Scherr said about the sheet with cost estimates.

Scherr used the classroom square-foot cost for Miller and Murphy elementary school remodels at $120 per square foot as a basis for the estimate.

This estimate does not include paying the architect, engineer, contractor and other vendors needed to complete the project.

The outline presented at the board meeting for the expansion project gives a guideline for doing the construction in phases. The first phase could be classrooms and some office space, followed by phase two for additional office space and phase three for cosmetic remodeling and air conditioning. The first phase is estimated at $750,000 for a total 5,600 square feet new and remodeled.

The remodeling at Richholt also provides space for other BECEP programs located at Park Avenue, including Early Intervention and Right Track. Those programs also use space at Richholt. Richholt is no longer used as an elementary school.

In other board news:

Overall, fewer home school students are taking classes in Bismarck Public Schools, Assistant Superintendent Rick Buresh reported.

Enrollment of home school students is down 90 students, compared with last year. The enrollment dropped in the high school grades.

Elementary enrollment remains level at about 80 students.

Bismarck Public Schools enrolls 417 students from outside the school district, Gerhardt reported. The students enroll in two ways, either open enrollment or a tuition agreement.

About 40 students from BPS schools attend other schools through open enrollment, according to the report.

@$: (Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)