Construction on a long-awaited public high school for South Maui has been set back because of funding issues, meaning the Kihei campus isn’t expected to open to students until 2020 — four years later than planned.

The Kihei community has been lobbying for a high school since at least the 1990s. The more than 700 high-schoolers living in South Maui have to attend schools outside of their community, resulting in overcrowding at Baldwin and Maui high schools in Kahului, while Kihei Charter School is bursting at the seams, with 550 students and a waiting list.

The Legislature in 2013 approved $130 million for the project in the state’s two-year capital improvements budget, but the money was split into two parts: $30 million in state-backed bonds and a $100 million authorization in the Department of Education’s State Educational Facilities Improvement fund.

While the $30 million in bonds became available in July, the start of the 2015 fiscal year, the remaining money is tied up in the facilities improvement fund.

"The funding pieces don’t work well together," said state Budget Director Kalbert Young. "The $30 million is still there; the DOE can use that. But in order to access the $100 million, the DOE would have to kill off $100 million in other (education facilities improvement) projects, and there are dozens and dozens of projects on the books.

"The DOE and (Board of Education) do not think that’s prudent, apparently, because they’re saying they don’t consider it an available funding source," he said.

Young said the Abercrombie administration’s original 2013 budget proposed bond funding for the full $130 million, which would have become available in July.

The plan at the time, according to legislators and supporters, was for the Department of Education to use the gap year to secure the needed permits and contracts, and be ready to break ground this year.

"When the new fiscal year came about, the DOE wasn’t ready to put the project out to bid," said state Rep. Kaniela Ing (D, Kihei-Makena), who helped push for the funding. "It’s frustrating because we worked really hard to get this funded, and at the end of the day, there are 1,000-plus kids who are going to need this school in the next two to four years."

The full funding amount would have allowed the department to use a design-build process — where the same contractor handles both the design and build-out of the campus — to save an estimated $25 million.

"With incremental funding, the method of procurement will now be design-bid-build," the DOE said in a funding update report.

The department will use existing funds to design an infrastructure master plan for the undeveloped site, 77 acres of vacant agricultural land mauka of Piilani Highway, the report said.

It then plans to request the release of the $30 million in state-backed bonds by April to pay for site and infrastructure improvements, including a two-lane entry road from the highway, two water wells, and grading and paving of parking and driveway areas.

Young said the DOE is expected to request the $100 million be funded from another source, likely general obligation bonds.

Residents are disappointed about the delay and a lack of communication from the Department of Education and state officials, said longtime Kihei Community Association board member Andrew Beerer, who chairs the Kihei High School Action Team subcommittee.

"I think what’s frustrating for the community is that for six years we were led down a path being told this would be a design-build project and we lobbied the Legislature for this huge amount of money because they said they would need it all upfront. Then, not to play the blame game, but someone changes the dynamic in the 13th hour," Beerer said. "Now, there’s no real timeline, the financing is uncertain. I’m just like, wow, we’re really in no-man’s land now."

But he says he’s hopeful the project will move forward.

"We just have to stay on top of them and make sure that they go out for that $30 million and get it bonded and make sure this remains a priority," Beerer said. "They say they’re committed to this, but not until they put bulldozers on the land and spend that $30 million will they be committed to finish. If not, we could see this completely fall off the radar."

The new high school is projected to have a first-year population of 800 students and eventually serve 1,650 students.