School Superintendent Luis Lopes headed a presentation and tour of Southeastern Regional

Vocational Technical High School in Easton recently. Wicked Local photo by Charlene A. McNeil.

EASTON — A school renovation project nearly four years in the making is on the fast track to becoming reality for students and officials at Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School in Easton.

The school district is now just months away from beginning construction on a proposed $30 million school renovation and addition project that would bring the aging 45-year-old building up to code and put it at the forefront of 21st century learning.

One of the project’s greatest appeals, at least for local taxpayers, is that it will be completed without increasing costs to any of the nine member communities served by the school district – Brockton, Easton, East Bridgewater, Foxborough, Mansfield, Norton, Sharon, Stoughton, and West Bridgewater.

At a public informational meeting held earlier this month, school Superintendent Luis Lopes told audience members the reason for the zero percent increase was largely due to the fact that district officials were anticipating a project reimbursement rate of 80 percent from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), the state agency responsible for helping school districts secure funding for large-scale capital improvement projects.

“Our base reimbursement rate was about 75.5 percent, roughly. And we get incentive points on (top of) that,” Lopes said. “We’re not affecting their (member communities’) assessments, we’re not affecting their property taxes.”

For the complete story plus more photos, visit the Taunton Daily Gazette online or WickedLocal.com .