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A temporary campus for King Kamehameha III Elementary opened earlier this month, but hosting students at the West Maui site could cost over $100 million, Department of Education officials say.

The school, located at the Pulelehua housing development near the Kapalua Airport, hosted its first day of classes on April 1. Approximately 350 students are attending the school, which has a capacity for 600.

The DOE can operate the temporary campus until 2029, when the 30 modular classrooms must be removed to return the land to its original state. The department has not yet selected a location to build a permanent campus for the elementary school, which was destroyed in the August Lahaina wildfire.

If the department uses the temporary site for five years, the cost for the school will fall between $100 and $120 million, said DOE deputy superintendent Curt Otaguro during Thursday’s Board of Education meeting. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to cover 90% of the cost, with the remaining 10% covered by the state.

The state will also need to cover the costs of leasing the land from Maui Oceanview LP, the owner of the Pulelehua development. Maui Oceanview will lease the land for $1 a year for the first three years of the lease, followed by $180,000 for the 4th year and $230,000 for the 5th year, DOE superintendent Keith Hayashi told the board.

DOE communications director Nanea Kalani said the department has the option to use the site for a 6th year, although she didn’t know how much the lease would cost for an additional year.

Hayashi noted that the department is paying below the market rate on the land, which is valued up to $352,000 per year.

School and state leaders praised the campus’ quick opening at a press conference last month, noting that it took only 95 days for the Army Corps of Engineers and DOE to construct and furnish the school.

But Sen. Angus McKelvey, who represents West Maui, questioned whether the school opened too quickly when concerns about the quality of the facilities recently emerged.

Last week, teachers reported that dark, foul-smelling water came out of the faucets at the school. The Environmental Protection Agency found that stagnant water was the cause of the problem and flushed the school’s system twice over the weekend.

EPA deemed the water safe, Otaguro said, although samples are being sent to the mainland for additional testing.

Students haven’t been using tap water for drinking purposes, Hayashi said.

McKelvey said in an interview Thursday he’s concerned about how the school will fare this weekend, when rainstorms are expected to hit the island. Teachers have reported leaks in the classrooms, he said, and there are few covered areas to protect students as they’re walking between classes in strong wind and rain.

“It seems like there was this inordinate political push to get it done no matter what,” McKelvey said.

Otaguro said the Army Corps of Engineers is currently working to address the leaks in the buildings. He added that DOE didn’t complete a full inspection of the campus before the Corps finished its construction in February and handed off the school to the department.

“We’re encouraging our faculty and staff to criticize it,” Otaguro said.

At the end of Thursday’s board meeting, BOE chair Warren Haruki also addressed his involvement in securing the Pulelehua development to host the temporary school. Until last year, Haruki served as CEO of Maui Land and Pineapple Co., which had sold the land for the Pulelehua project to Maui Oceanview in 2016.

Haruki said he made the superintendent aware of an available school site at Pulelehua after the fires, but there were no “sweetheart deals.”

Haruki announced his resignation as BOE chair last month, effective as soon as the Senate approves his successor.

Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by grants from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.