Jacksonville schools break ground on new Murrayville-Woodson grade school

The first real work on Jacksonville School District 117’s new Murrayville-Woodson Grade School was already underway before officials ever cut a ceremonial ribbon. Superintendent Steve Ptacek said last week’s groundbreaking was symbolic, but the project itself is very real, a 40,000-square-foot school rising on eight acres at the corner of Woodson-Winchester Blacktop and Water Tower Road.

The new campus is meant to replace the current Murrayville grade school, a building that is 108 years old. District leaders and the builder say the new school is designed for modern classrooms, better learning spaces, improved safety and security features, and room for future expansion. S. M. Wilson & Co. says the school is scheduled to open for the 2027-2028 school year, while Graham & Hyde Architects’ planroom lists substantial completion for July 2, 2027.

For Woodson and Murrayville families, the next phase will be visible long before students move in. The site sits on a major local intersection, and the fact that work started earlier this spring means the corner will be tied up with construction activity for months to come. What was once a long-planned school idea is now a changing piece of ground, one that will reshape traffic patterns and the look of the area as the building takes form.

The price tag is about $19 million, and the financing structure makes the project a countywide policy story as much as a school construction project. S. M. Wilson said the work is being financed through a no-tax-increase bond sale and district general-fund dollars. A March 25 special session also authorized $320,000 in bond sales to help buy the eight-acre site.

Those bonds are expected to be repaid with Morgan County’s school sales tax, a local revenue source the Illinois Department of Revenue says is meant for school facility needs. District advocates say that kind of revenue can reduce pressure on property taxes and lessen the need for new bonding, a point that will matter as taxpayers watch how the district balances building needs with long-term accountability.

Murrayville-Woodson Elementary School, which the district lists with Emily English as principal, will be the centerpiece of that investment. By the time students walk in for the 2027-2028 school year, the district expects a newer, safer building on land that was still being assembled this spring, replacing a century-old school with a campus built for the next generation.