For those who haven’t visited the James Campbell High School campus recently, it would be easy to dismiss as excessive the state Department of Education’s push for a new classroom building — especially when the total price tag is a hefty $35 million.

But drive along North Road in Ewa Beach and it becomes painfully obvious that Campbell is bursting at the seams and utilizing all available space to accommodate its 3,049 students, the most in the state. Portable buildings are wedged into what was once green space and spill over into the neighboring Pohakea Elementary campus.

The severe overcrowding is why Department of Education officials are fighting to keep $35 million in the budget this legislative session to build a 30-classroom building and make other infrastructure improvements at the campus. After years of failed tries, the funding is now included in Gov. David Ige’s capital improvements budget, but skeptical lawmakers last week grilled the DOE about the project’s cost.

At least one legislator questioned why the DOE needed $35 million for one building when it was able to develop the entire Ho‘okele Elementary campus for less than $40 million. But it’s not a fair comparison.

Ho‘okele realized savings as the DOE’s first design-build project that used a single company for design and construction of a brand-new elementary school with existing infrastructure. Campbell, on the other hand, was built in the 1960s. It will be trickier to shoehorn onto the campus a three-story building with specialty classrooms for science labs, a health care program, culinary arts and Hawaiian studies. The process will require moving existing structures and upgrading aging infrastructure.

Dann Carlson, the DOE’s superintendent for school facilities, rightly said the Campbell building is absolutely necessary — and long overdue.

Campbell High students deserve modern facilities to help better prepare them for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and other careers. It could be a game-changer for future students and provide untold opportunity. And those opportunities shouldn’t be kept on hold.

There are plans for a new East Kapolei High School that could eventually alleviate crowding at Campbell. Currently, DOE officials are in discussions with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources about a possible site near the University of Hawaii-West Oahu campus for a new high school.

State Rep. Matthew LoPresti (D, Ewa Villages-Ocean Pointe-Ewa Beach) correctly described the Campbell High building as a stopgap and emphasized that another high school was necessary a decade ago.

Yet even if that project came together seamlessly, it wouldn’t preclude the need for additional space now at Campbell. Relief is needed sooner rather than later.

Lawmakers must recognize that piecemeal solutions for the growing student population at Campbell can no longer be offered. The DOE has all but maxed out the use of portables at the site.

The expansion of Campbell’s campus is a must-do, especially given the potential impact it will have on future generations of students. Development of a building at Campbell High has been a budget priority for the DOE for years, and while lawmakers are correct in taking a close, critical look at all DOE budget requests, they cannot in good conscience cast aside the project again this legislative session.

Campbell students deserve better.