Salt Lake City School District staff and the Salt Lake Education Foundation presented a revised plan on Tuesday for a career and technical education (CTE) center at Riley Elementary, estimating total costs near $33 million and outlining a January launch of a formal fundraising campaign.

Isaac, the district project lead, said the architecture firm VCBO — selected after an RFP because it was the original Riley architect — proposed a design that reduces phased‑construction costs and avoids removing second‑floor instructional space. "The original budget that we talked about was near $30,000,000," Isaac said. "The initial cost estimate ... was closer to $44,000,000, which is way out of the budget range that we were considering." He added that VCBO offered to reduce their fee by 15 percent, lowering an estimated architect fee from about $2,100,000 to roughly $1,800,000.

James, representing the Salt Lake Education Foundation, said the foundation seeks approximately $33,000,000 in gifts and pledges for the CTE project and had secured about $750,000 so far. He outlined fundraising channels including corporate partners, private donors, grants and community campaigns, and said Maria and Rick will serve as co‑chairs for a formal campaign expected to launch in January.

Board members asked how the district is ensuring that no general‑fund or capital funds are spent without board approval. The business administrator said no checks to architects or contractors have been written and that staff time and some site visits were covered by the foundation; future requisitions and purchase orders will identify the fund source, and donations would be transferred into a program account so expenditures can be tracked.

Superintendent and foundation staff said they would provide regular updates to the board and that a construction timeline would depend on fundraising progress. Isaac estimated the design and construction work for the selected plan would take about 12–14 months once the district commits to proceed.

No formal vote was taken on the project at the Nov. 18 meeting. Board members requested clearer, periodic reports on fundraising and contingency planning before major contracts are executed.