After a near $2.5 million increase in cost to Billings Public Schools’ plan to renovate Daylis Stadium, the school board Monday night rejected authorizing the proposed budget to support construction, exposing a rift between trustees and Superintendent Erwin Garcia in the process.

The district initially sought a more modest price tag for the long-considered project to replace decomposing bleachers and moldy locker rooms while expanding bleachers and resurfacing the track. The revamped proposal brought the cost down to $10.5 million , pared down from a proposed $26 million proposal received last year. The project’s price tag has gone up since then — first to $12.5 million and now to $14.9 million.

The increase in cost follows a developer survey of the stadium finding the football field t

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