Windows cast sunlight onto dusty floors as drills whir, voices resonate and boots stomp across echoing rooms.

It’s hard to envision, but in less than two weeks — fingers crossed — the bare walls, toolboxes and ladders will be replaced by state-of-the-art laboratories where teachers and students will immerse themselves in an opportunity seldom granted to schools feeling the financial crunch of budget cuts.

The Austin Public School District has been bestowed $1.5 million for science renovations, an unheard-of amount in the form of a private donation to a public school.

But science encompasses only one-third of the Hormel Foundation’s contribution; $1.3 million has been donated to the University of Minnesota Fellowship Program for teachers to pursue master’s degrees, and $810,000 will go toward programs of excellence for gifted and talented students.

“We were a little bit behind in terms of equipment and technology,” John Alberts, director of education services, said of the high school’s current science facilities. “I would say we are obviously very lucky in the sense we will have some very updated labs.

“It’s going to rank up there with some of the most updated equipment we can have,” Alberts said. “Every science room will be impacted.”

By Aug. 15, renovations are scheduled for completion in eight science laboratories on the third story of Austin High School. Construction began after the 2007-08 school year ended.

The science program occupies portions of the south, east and west sides of AHS; the Austin Area Learning Center and grade 9 lockers are also housed on that floor.

Alberts said the last science renovations were in the early 1990s. The 15,000 square-feet of updated space will be more lab-specific; for instance, a greenhouse will be located in the environmental science lab, and the physics room will be outfitted with electric plug-ins at each table. Classrooms will have Smartboards — interactive, electronic whiteboards — as a standard accessory.

“All lab stations will have technology … computers at the end of each lab station for measurements and lab reports,” Alberts explained. “Basically, all the equipment in there will be new.”

At the last estimate, $85,000 has been budgeted for new science equipment at AHS.

The facilities will also accommodate Advanced Placement science courses, to be offered to students for the first time this year.

AP courses will be phased in as teachers work on advanced education through the fellowship program.

“They dovetail together,” Alberts said. “These students will get a better science experience in Austin.”