Janet Mitchell, Kivalina's city administrator, says a yes vote Tuesday also could speed construction of a long-desired road that would provide economic development and better access for subsistence hunters in the Inupiat Eskimo village.
Kivalina is a barrier-reef community of more than 400 people 625 miles northwest of Anchorage.
The proposed school site is seven miles north of the village. Mitchell says it was chosen because gravel is plentiful there.
Funding for the new school would stem from the state's recent settlement of a lawsuit that alleged funding inequities in rural schools.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.