MARSHALL — This fall, a partnership of area educational institutions brought a proposal for a new regional learning center to members of the Minnesota Senate. On Monday, the Marshall School Board heard updated details on what the special education and alternative learning center could look like.

Southwest West Central Service Cooperative, Marshall Public Schools and Southwest Minnesota State University are proposing to turn a building on the SMSU campus into a learning center.

“I think there’s good support for it,” said Cliff Carmody of SWWC. Project planners said they are requesting about $5 million of state bonding money to help cover the estimated $9 million renovations.

The new learning center would replace the service cooperative’s current Educational Learning Center in Belview, which serves students with autism, disabilities or behavioral issues. There would also be space in the project for an Alternative Learning Center location for Marshall Public Schools. MATEC is currently located in a former commercial space in Marshall.

“Part of what brings us to collaborate on projects like this is cost savings,” Carmody said.

Renovating SMSU’s social science building into a shared learning center would be about 40% less costly for SWWC and the school district than building standalone facilities, planners said.

If the ELC and Marshall’s Alternative Learning Center shared some facilities, they would need 5,600 square feet less construction space.

Gary Hay of architecture firm Hay Dobbs shared concept drawings of what the shared learning center could look like.

“It’s not really a schematic design, it’s a concept design,” Hay said.

The concept plan for the Social Science building features a shared cafeteria and recreation area on the first floor.

“We would stagger hours to accommodate both groups,” Hay said.

The remaining part of the first floor could be renovated into ELC classrooms and offices, while the second floor would become an Alternative Learning Center for MPS. In the concept plan, there was 4,182 square feet left on the second floor that could be used for additional classrooms or conference rooms and offices.

“We’re kind of getting down not to the economic side of the situation,” said Kim Barse of ORB Management. SWWC and MPS have requested state bonding dollars to help with funding, but the request won’t cover the whole project.

“We will have a gap,” Barse said. “If we’re not able to get the bonding dollars, we will have a bigger gap.”

Carmody said project planners won’t know until the spring if they are awarded state bonding money. In the meantime, the learning center proposal has had good support, he said.

“We have had good conversations with the university,” as well as with the Minnesota State college and university system, the city of Marshall and the Marshall Economic Development Authority, Carmody said. “We’ve been able to find really strong partners in trying to make this work.”