The new middle school in Oshkosh is already coming in well over budget. The Oshkosh School District says bids for construction of Vel Phillps Middle School are four-point-six million above the 53-point-two million dollar estimate provided to voters in a referendum in 2020. Officials blame “market conditions” like sharp increases in construction and supply costs since the project was first developed for the anticipate overruns. On Wednesday, the Oshkosh School Board will consider a recommendation from administrators to divert four million dollars that had been earmarked for security upgrades at other schools in the district as part of the same referendum to the middle school construction instead.
