The cost of Frisco ISD’s 11th high school, Emerson, has increased to $111.6 million dollars due to a combination of factors including a labor shortage, tariffs leading to increased construction costs, and the addition of features not included in the original plans. 

“We did encounter a bit of a sticker shock,” FISD Executive Director of Operations Scott Warstler said in a Dallas Morning News article. “Every school district, home builder or any other type of business or organization with a construction project is competing for labor.” 

According to Frisco ISD Assistant Director of Communications Meghan Cone in The Dallas Morning News, the district has also undergone an approximate 14 percent increase (approximately $13 million) in the cost of building Emerson due to a rise of lumber and steel prices. 

The increase in steel prices can be traced in part to trade tariffs implemented by the federal government. 

“The main tariff that’s probably impacted most people is the steel tariff because anything that has steel in it is going to be impacted by that tariff,” AP Economics teacher Gary Mumford said. “Tariffs are when the government of a country tell other countries if they’re going to sell products inside the original country, then they’re going to have to pay extra money in order to bring those products and tell them. Basically what it does is makes the products more expensive for consumers to buy.”