It’s unreal how these schools were screwed. The Bloomington Pantagraph profiles one of them.

El Paso-Gridley Superintendent Jim Miller guided about 150 letters from El Paso-Gridley parents out of the district office toward the hands of legislators Tuesday.

The letters were a combination of those hand-written and those signed by community members asking the state to pay the merger incentives originally promised to the newly formed district.

Like Prairie Central and six other newly merged districts, El-Paso-Gridley first was told it would get 40 percent of the money originally promised and then learned it would be zero.

Only districts that consolidated before March will receive the incentives.

Legislators who support full funding of the merger incentives are planning to introduce a bill during the General Assembly’s November veto session asking that the money be paid.

“The general word is we have a lot of support. It’s whether that will translate into ‘yes’ votes and if there is the money to fund it,” Miller said.

Read the whole piece.