There’s no reason to believe that the sale of Broad Street Elementary to The Arc of Butler County is anything but a win-win.

Butler School District gets to unload a vacant building quickly; the organization gets a larger home and the ability to grow its vocational shelter employment initiative — a program that helps its clients, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, earn a paycheck.

With all that said, we can’t help but wonder why Broad Street is being treated differently than the sale of the Meridian school building, which has been put on hold until the district’s four new board members-elect take their seats next month.

It’s hard to understand what one more month of waiting would have hurt when it comes to the sale of Broad Street. And despite the school board members’ vote to approve a sales agreement with the Arc on Monday, the process is far from finished.

Common Pleas Court Judge S. Michael Yeager will consider the sale at a hearing on Dec. 22 and a competing bid for the building after J.M. Beatty Furniture turned in a second bid to the district, upping its original offer from $380,000 to $530,000.

That’s nearly $55,000 more than the sale price of $475,007 that school board members accepted on Monday. Also consider that Beatty, as a commercial business, would pay tax on the property; Arc is a nonprofit and would not pay property tax.

District solicitor Tom King has pointed out that there are still many moving parts in Broad Street’s sale. Judge Yeager must consider both offers before making his ruling; The Arc could submit a second bid of its own; and incoming school board members could still vote to overturn the building’s sale.

If its bid is ultimately accepted, The Arc would need permission from the city for a zoning variance for the property, which currently is zoned R-3 residential.

The district is also planning to hold a public meeting on Broad Street at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

So again: with so much yet to do and so much seemingly still up for consideration, why go through with this vote?

There is something to be said for picking a course of action and sticking to it, and we are not suggesting that board members should allow last-minute offers to sidetrack the sale process for any of the district’s buildings.

But the sale of Broad Street to The Arc is not a sure thing. There has been little public discussion regarding the matter; and board members who will ultimately cast votes on the sale are not yet seated.

The board’s prerogative should be to send Judge Yeager a decision that leaves people confident in their diligence and transparency; a decision that makes a strong case for why their votes of approval were cast.

As it stands today, we don’t see how board members can say they’ve accomplished that goal.