HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – The Christian County School Board heard construction updates on the consolidated high school and approved several change orders at their board meeting Thursday night. Superintendent Chris Bentzel and Finance Director Jessica Darnell also presented a draft budget for the 2025-26 Fiscal Year.

“Construction is progressing very well,” said Kevin Hitchell with Alliance Corporation. “The cold temperatures have been a challenge but we expected that this time of year, and despite that, there is a lot of exciting progress.”

With about 80 workers still on the construction site, Hitchell shared that lots of areas of the building have their roof dried in. The areas that they will be focusing on next is the band, choir, art and main gym area. Hitchell also said no more asphalt is expected to be put down until April.

Change orders and construction payments

The board approved four construction change orders resulting in an increase of around $91,600. The changes include electrical revisions, switchgear equipment, the addition of flooring in elevators, and the installation of walls in stairwells and restrooms.

“Overall, the contingency is still very healthy, just under $6 million,” said Hitchell. “Where we are in the construction far exceeds what I anticipated where we would be at this time.”

Boarchair Tom Bell, said it’s important to keep the momentum of the project going as the board approved the change orders. Finance Director, Jessica Darnell shared that the district has now paid around 55% of the cost of construction for the school. This month, Alliance Corporation was paid $3 million, and Hafer Architects was paid just over $28,500.

Draft budget update

Superintendent Chris Bentzel said the draft budget for the 2025-26 Fiscal Year uses very conservative numbers. “This means worst case scenarios assuming all department schools spend out their whole budget, assuming we get zero grants and so forth and so on,” said Bentzel.

He continued to say the budget is very generic and simple compared to what the district has done in the past. Also, they don’t look to propose many salary schedule changes but will continue with stipends which have been very popular with employees in the past.

Darnell added their SEEK funding is set to possibly increase by around $1.6 million from last year. However, the funding the school system receives may be impacted by a SEEK funding statewide shortfall by nearly $40 million.  She said the state has overestimated how much funding they had for the upcoming fiscal year. “These are all very tentative numbers,” said Darnell.

A more tentative budget will be presented in May.

DON’T MISS A STORY: Click here to sign up for our free weekly email newsletter