The State Board of Education misspent $1.8 million that was earmarked for a botched K-12 data system upgrade, according to a legislative staff report issued Wednesday.

The report also casts new doubts over the multimillion-dollar rebuild of the Idaho System for Educational Excellence — a high-priority project that is essentially on hold.

And Wednesday’s report is unlikely to be the last word on the $1.8 million.

“There likely will be an audit,” said Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, co-chair of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, after budget-writers received a briefing on the stinging ISEE staff report.

In many respects, the Legislative Services Office report outlined several familiar problems with the ISEE upgrade — issues first reported by Idaho Education News in August .

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