Hamilton Elementary looking at $9 million expansion

An expansion to Hamilton Elementary in La Crosse could be coming in the next year or two.

The school has too many students for the space available says superintendent Randy Nelson.

“As that school has become more popular because of the year-round calendar, we’ve had an increase of students,” Nelson said. “That really has caused us to actually use two or three spaces that used to be offices for regular classrooms.”

All told, the three-phase project would cost around $9 million. Nelson said the money would come from the fund balance, which is something important to the board

“They’ve been frugal,” Nelson said. “They’ve looked at this over the course of time and said, ‘Alright we’re going to set these dollars aside over here so that if we do find ourselves in a position to either renovate or improve we’ve got some leverage to do so.'”

But, he added, the fact that school is year round complicates when the work could be done.