IRRRB Recommends Funds to Combine Iron Range Schools

The Project is Estimated to Cost About $160 Million

EVELETH, Minn. – The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board has voted to recommend dedicating about $100 million toward a new high school that would combine students from Eveleth-Gilbert and Virginia School districts.

The project, with an estimated cost between about $160 million and $180 million, would also need funding from the state and local taxpayers to become a reality.

Other steps are still needed for the project including the completion of a grant application, approval from school district boards, and referendums passed by the residents of both districts.

If the criteria above are successfully met construction of the new school will likely begin in 2020 and take two years to complete. School officials say the new school would be built in a neutral location.

“Discussions regarding school collaboration on the East Range are not new. In the past thirty-three years, there have been fifteen studies or meetings about area schools working together on sharing resources or combining some classes or even consolidation,” said IRRRB Commissioner Mark Phillips in a letter sent to the board.

Some of the funding could also be used for light upgrades to elementary schools in future years as well.