With uncertainty surrounding the future of Minot Forest Elementary School, town and school officials will seek approval to borrow up to $800,000 for temporary classrooms for potentially displaced students.

On Thursday, members of the Capital Planning Committee offered their support for the request, which will be before voters at the April 23 Town Meeting, set for 7 p.m. in the Wareham High School auditorium. It is part of the town’s capital spending plan, a document that provides a schedule for major purchases.

The borrowing will only occur if school officials opt to close Minot Forest Elementary School as a cost-saving measure. Currently, school officials are wrestling with a $600,000 gap between what they originally proposed for an annual operating budget and what is available from the town due to lackluster revenues. No decision has been made on whether or not to close Minot Forest. The School Committee is scheduled to have a special meeting on April 23 at 5:30 p.m. before the budget goes for final approval in front of Town Meeting voters to discuss the issue once again.

Complicating the matter is the question of whether or not voters will approve a multi-million proposal to combine Decas Elementary and Minot Forest into a new building at Minot’s current site. In March, members of the School Committee-appointed School Building Committee favored a three-story, $86 million building with space for 1,020 students to replace Minot Forest. The group is spearheading the project. If approved, it will be partially funded by the state. Of the $86 million, the town would have to pay $37 million. The school is more than 50 years old.

At April Town Meeting in 2017, voters approved the borrowing of $1 million to fund a feasibility study. The feasibility study explored different options for revamping the school and is a requirement of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which will reimburse the town 70 percent of the project’s construction cost.

Project officials said plans call for completing a design in time for voters to consider a debt exclusion at the October 2018 Town Meeting. If approved, the issue would go before local voters for final approval during the state's Nov. 6 election as a ballot question. The debt exclusion would raise taxes on residents to pay for the project for the life of the debt.

In the meantime, officials are preparing in case Minot Forest closes by making sure a funding mechanism is in place for the temporary classrooms.

Town Administrator Derek Sullivan said between four and five classrooms would be purchased, equipped and installed at Decas Elementary with the funds. He stressed if the classrooms aren’t required, a loan won’t be sought. The Town Meeting vote is needed to authorize officials to seek funding, not actually borrow the money.

Capital Committee members questioned the fiscal soundness of borrowing the funds.

“We don’t have the money in our operating budget,” said member David Heard.

Sullivan explained school officials are seeking ways to save funds and closing Minot seems viable.

“They’re trying to save several hundred thousand dollars a year,” said Sullivan, noting that money saved from staff reductions and overhead by closing Minot would be substantial.

If the portable classrooms are required, and the funds are borrowed, the town would not have to start making payments until 2020, said Sullivan.