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Construction

In 2020, voters approved $170 million to build three schools: Twenty Wells Elementary, Deseret Peak High, and Stansbury Junior High. This page compares the cost shown to voters with what the board later budgeted and what the district has reported spending.

What voters were shown vs. what was spent

The district’s cost figures come from four points in time, and each has a different basis. The 2020 voter pamphlet gave a rounded amount for each school. The board’s later budgets cover the whole project, including furniture, equipment, and design fees. The latest figures come from the audited financial statements and the business administrator’s reports.

How to read the latest figures

Twenty Wells is finished, and its $21.2M is the total the district reports spending on it. For Deseret Peak and Stansbury, the latest audited figure is what the district had paid on its construction contracts through June 30, 2025. It is not a final project total: furniture, design fees, and costs paid after that date may not be included. A board report says $9.5M more was spent on the projects between July 1 and Oct 9, 2025.

School by school

Cost of each 2020 bond school by stage

How the gap was paid

How the estimates changed

The higher costs were not a surprise at the end of construction. Board documents show the gap growing in 2021, as bids came in during a period of rapid construction inflation.

How the costs compare with other districts

School districts report the estimated cost and size of each new school to the Utah State Board of Education. These are estimates filed in different years, not final costs, but they show the scale of each project and how much costs rose statewide over the same period.

Alpine School District reported two middle schools of the same size (186,898 sq ft): Micron Middle at $41.0M in the FY2022 report and Middle School #440 at $82.0M in the FY2024 report. How much of the increase in Tooele’s costs came from statewide construction prices, and how much from design and scope choices such as Deseret Peak’s size, layout, and added road work?

What we don’t know yet

  • Final all-in cost per school. No closeout report in the board documents gives total cost by school, including furniture, equipment, design fees, and offsite work. The FY2026 audit, expected in December 2026 or January 2027, should show whether any construction commitments remain.
  • The state capital outlay report. District Policy 3006 requires a School Plant Capital Outlay Report for each new school. It lists land, construction, design, impact fees, and furnishings separately. The final reports for these schools have not been located.
  • Change orders. Board documents mention road change orders and a Teen Center addition at Deseret Peak, but they do not give a full list of change orders with amounts.
  • The source of about $4.0M. In FY2024–FY2025, $54.0M of Stansbury Junior High costs were moved off the bond ledger to be paid from the $50M lease revenue bonds. The spend summary does not identify where the remaining $4.0M came from.
  • The cost of borrowing. The amounts on this page are construction costs. They do not include interest on the bonds. The lease revenue bonds are repaid through 2044.
When the board approved the Deseret Peak bid in 2022 and the junior high budget in 2023, it knew the three schools would cost about $79M more than the amounts shown to voters. What options did it consider for reducing the scope or size of the projects, and why were they not chosen?