Newtown School District Awarded $50m Payout to Rebuild Sandy Hook Elementary

When the average cost to rebuild an elementary school is $7.3m, some wonder what the $50m payout is for.

WASHINGTON, DC – Neil Heslin, father of six-year-old Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim Jesse Lewis, wipes tears as he testifies during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee February 27, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The committee held a hearing on ‘The Assault Weapons Ban of 2013.’ (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

By Shepard Ambellas | October 7, 2013

NEWTOWN, CONN. (INTELLIHUB) — The new Sandy Hook Elementary School is scheduled to reopen in January of 2016 after the district was just granted $50 million dollars from the federal government to rebuild.
The old school is set to be torn down, this comes after a local vote approving the funding. Some parents of former students have even mentioned they would take drastic protest measures, including chaining themselves to the school, if the old school wasn’t torn down.
However, all of this comes as a shock to most Americans as a good percentage their sons and daughters attend run-down dilapidated school buildings in need of drastic repairs and upgrades.
In fact the national average cost to build an elementary school in 2013, even at union rates is only $7,393,000, a long shot from the payout Sandy Hook is getting.
A report from ReedConstructionData.com breaks down the national average cost to build a school:

Cost Estimate (Union Labor)	% of Total	Cost Per SF	Cost
Total		$122.83	$5,527,500
Contractor Fees (GC,Overhead,Profit)	25%	$30.71	$1,381,900
Architectural Fees	7%	$10.75	$483,700
Total Building Cost		$164.29	$7,393,000

Cost Estimate (Open Shop)	% of Total	Cost Per SF	Cost
Total		$112.29	$5,053,000
Contractor Fees (GC,Overhead,Profit)	25%	$28.07	$1,263,300
Architectural Fees	7%	$9.83	$442,100
Total Building Cost		$150.19	$6,758,400

_[1]
So where is all of this money going and who approved it?

Although it is unknown exactly how the money will be allocated at this time, Yahoo News reported, “In May, a 28-person task force charged with deciding the future of Sandy Hook School narrowed the choices down to three: renovating the existing structure; building on a new site; or building a new Sandy Hook Elementary School at its current location — the plan that the task force board ultimately submitted to the school board and was approved by residents on Saturday.
The recommendation came after five weeks of emotional, sometimes-contentious debate at public meetings.”_[2] 

Sources:
[1] Construction Cost Estimates for Elementary School in National, US - ReedConstructionData.com
[2] Newtown votes to demolish Sandy Hook School, rebuild on same site - Yahoo Newshttp://intellihub.com/2013/10/06/newtown-school-district-receives-50m-payout-rebuild-sandy-hook-elementary/