From the Journal Star:

Questions about eliminating four classrooms from an estimated $14 million to $17 million addition at Lincoln Middle School have led District 150 officials to step back and ask whether they should take up the project at all.

The plan was to build an addition onto Lincoln Middle School in order to transform it into a “birth through eighth” school, absorbing the students from the shuttered Kingman and Irving primary schools. Now the District 150 board wants to change or possibly eliminate that addition and use the funds to make more improvements to Peoria High School, which will be absorbing most of the students from Woodruff High School, which closes this Spring. There’s just one problem:

About $30 million in bonds have been sold, contracts signed and property deeded from District 150 to the Public Building Commission two months ago for about $24 million worth of work at Lincoln and Peoria High School. Both projects are expected to get under way this year.

So, this discussion is being held at the 11th hour — after the PBC approved the original plan, sold the bonds, and acquired the land. In other words, it may be too late to do anything about it.

This is what happens when you don’t have a clear plan and you’re working under a deadline to spend millions of dollars. The District 150 Board and former Superintendent Hinton had a five-year window of opportunity to use Public Building Commission money, and during that time they had trouble deciding on a plan. They vacillated on closing a high school for most of that time, finally voting to close it because the PBC supposedly required it in order to get the remaining $30 million available. That caused them to scramble to cobble together a plan to use that $30 million at the last minute. Now they’re having second thoughts about that plan.

Millions in taxpayer money about to be spent, primary school children wondering where they’re going to go to school next year, and the District is still trying to improvise a plan.