With a population growth of nearly 50 percent expected over the next 20 years, Gov. Linda Lingle has released money to build a new elementary school in Wailuku, Maui.

The new school, which is expected to cost $45 million, will house 550 students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade. The governor's office said the school is necessary to ease overcrowding at Wailuku Elementary School, which is in an area where a master-planned community called Kehalani is being built.

"It's is critical that we expand the educational facilities on Maui to complement the county's population growth," Lingle said in a prepared statement.

The design phase is scheduled to begin in August and be completed in May 2009. Construction is scheduled to begin in November 2009 and be completed in April 2011, in time for the 2011-12 school year.