FEMA gives Ottawa district $12.3mil for school

OTTAWA -- Federal officials will award $12.3 million to a north central Illinois school district that was flooded last year.

The money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Ottawa Elementary School District will be used to build a new school.

Superintendent Craig Doster says the money is only about half of what the district needs for a new building.

Students at the school are currently attending classes in a building once used for a store.

If the district decides to build a new school, Doster says construction could start in the spring.

Ottawa is about 80 miles southwest of Chicago.