Chicago Public Education Breaks Cost Record: At $114 million, Jones College Prep already is the most expensive public high school ever built in Chicago.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

At $114 million, Jones College Prep already is the most expensive public high school ever built in Chicago.

And a dispute with Walsh Construction — a clout-heavy contractor whose City Hall connections stretch back to the late Mayor Richard J. Daley — could drive the final pricetag for the South Loop school even higher, to $127 million, records show.

Last summer, the Public Building Commission of Chicago rejected two bills totaling $13 million submitted by Walsh, the general contractor on the project, for cost overruns.

Now, the commission — the government agency headed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel that oversees construction of schools, police stations and other municipal buildings in Chicago — is bracing for a court fight.

Building new expensive government schools, while losing population ! The great moments of public education.