With school construction costs continuing to escalate, the Kent School District has turned its attention to a new plan that could lead to the replacement of Covington Elementary School in two years.

The plan still, the subject of a public hearing tonight, calls for the district to sell the land occupied by the current school. But it also includes an increase in the number of classrooms for the school it is planning to build, allowing the district to access local-impact fees as well as bond money intended for new classrooms.

If approved and completed, the new, 28-room school would open its doors Sept. 1, 2010.

Covington Elementary School is one of the oldest in the district. It opened in the 1950s and was last remodeled in the 1980s.

According to finance director Fred High, the district ideally would sell to a commercial developer the current 16-acre school site, plus 16 of the 26 acres of land the district owns (called the Halleson property) to a residential developer. The remaining acreage would be used for the new school.

“There’s still quite a bit of land that could be developed residential,” High said of the development potential of the Halleson property, located near the intersection of Southeast 256th Street and 156th Avenue Southeast.

High said an L-shaped parcel could be sold to developers, and he estimated the value of the current school is near $10 million. The land’s been rumored for various commercial developments.

By adding four classrooms to the plan to build a new school, High said, it shows the district is planning for growth in the Covington area, and it opens the project to additional impact-fee money as well as the 2006 bond money dedicated for classrooms.

High first proposed the plan at the Kent School Board’s Aug. 27 meeting, and board members were supportive.

“It sends a positive message that we are looking to expand in that area,” board member Jim Berrois said at the meeting.

“We owe the staff and students a school out there,” board member Bill Boyce added.

“We obviously need to move ahead,” board member Sandy Collins said. “This is a good plan.”

District superintendent Barbara Grohe said school staff members told her to tell the board of their support for the plan.

“They’re very much in favor of moving forward as quickly as we can,” Grohe said. “They’ve waited a long time.”

The main factor encouraging the district to move forward is the ever-increasing cost of school construction, which High said could soon outpace the value of the land. “That’s really a critical factor,” he said.

But taking this action doesn’t guarantee the sale. It only preserves the option, High said, adding that hosting a public hearing would allow the district to start the clock on a 45-day waiting period before a sale can be made.

“This isn’t a done deal yet,” he said.