It will cost the Davenport School District about $25.5 million to install air conditioning in all of its schools, an improvement board members say they want done within three years.

Administrators presented school board members Monday night with a breakdown of the cost for each of the 11 schools that lack cooling systems. The report is part of the district's efforts to create plans for how to use the money it generates from a statewide one-cent sales tax in the next year.

Districts can only use the money to improve or construct new buildings. It may not be used to offset budget cuts to the district's general fund, which pays for programs, teacher salaries and supplies, among other things.

If completed, officials expect the projects to save the district $66,262 in annual energy costs because of the updated heating and cooling systems, said Scott Martin, Davenport director of support services. In addition, adding air conditioning to all buildings allows the district, which is one of the last in the Quad-City area to start school each fall, to begin the classes earlier.

Board members originally budgeted $24 million of its sales tax revenues for air conditioning the buildings. Martin said the district could save money from reusing existing hot water boilers at Walcott, Blue Grass Elementary School and West High School at Smart, Sudlow or J.B. Young intermediate schools.

Officials could further reduce costs by moving the chiller at Central High School to Garfield Elementary School, he said. Also, the board will have to decide whether to air condition 80 percent or 100 percent of the buildings. The district plans to seek grant money, including federal stimulus dollars, to help defray the cost of the improvements.

Martin recommended, if the board moves forward with air conditioning the 11 buildings, that it start with Blue Grass and Smart Intermediate this summer, because upgrades at the two are the least complex and could be ready faster.

Cooling schools

Schools without air conditioning and estimated cost to install it:

* Williams Intermediate: nearly $3 million

* Adams Elementary: nearly $2.5 million

* Wilson Elementary: nearly $2.7 million

* Sudlow Intermediate: $2 million

* Blue Grass Elementary: nearly $1.9 million

* J.B. Young Intermediate: $2.2 million

* Smart Intermediate: $2.1 million

* Walcott: $2.8 million

* Garfield Elementary: $1.4 million

*  West High School: nearly $4.3 million

* Central High School: $679,047

Source: Davenport School District