DECATUR, Ill. (WAND)- The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has granted conditional approval to Decatur Public Schools to spend more than $39-million on building a new magnet school in the district.

The DPS61 Board of Education voted August 23rd to spend its federal covid money, known as ESSER funds, to build a new American Dreamer STEM Academy.

Originally, the district was planning to build a new Dennis Lab campus with ESSER funding. DPS61 officials secured a waiver from the Illinois Legislature, allowing the district to utilize ESSER money to build a new school, without asking for taxpayer approval on the ballot. The district was in talks with the Decatur Park Board to purchase a portion of Lincoln Park to build the new school. But the plan was met with outrage from neighbors in the area. Ultimately the Park Board decided not to sell the property to DPS61.

DPS61 officials then pivoted to utilizing their remaining ESSER dollars to build a new American Dreamer STEM Academy instead, at Oak Grove Park. The district submitted a revised application to ISBE, requesting to use the funds for a new magnet school- instead of a new Dennis Lab campus.

In its application, DPS61 argued:

"There is a need for the new building for improving instructional square footage, updated indoor air quality, and the addition if a dedicated physical education space that could be used for social distancing during lunch."

The proposed school would include 32,150 square feet of classroom space, 8,300 square feet of cafeteria space and a total of 80,000 square feet for the entire magnet school.

Under the conditionally approved proposal, design of the new school would be complete by the end of September 2022. Then, design development would take place between September and December, outlining engineering of plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and other systems.

DPS61 expects to begin accepting bids between December 2022 and May 2023 for more detailed site plan, floor plans, elevation and technical design. Then bids and contracts would be submitted and selected by June of 2023. Construction would be scheuled to begin in July 2023.

Students would move into the new buildng September 30, 2024.