MSBA Board to Vote on MHS Science Lab Project

The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Board of Directors will be holding a vote Wednesday on funding for the proposed science lab project at Medford High School.

The meeting will be taking place in Boston at 40 Broad St. Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.

According to Dan Collins, the press secretary for the MSBA, the vote is for “Authorization to Execute Project Funding Agreement” for the science lab initiative.

Collins said that is essentially a green-light from the MSBA for the project if the board votes in the affirmative.

It would mean "approval for a maximum potential grant of $7.5 million for the project, whose total budget is $13.8 million," Collins said.

Local approval will still be needed for the project to go ahead, Collins said.

Medford Schools Superintendent Roy Belson said the board's vote is expected to secure about 60 percent of the funding for the project, which would be a "soup to nuts" replacement of the school's current science labs.

The same labs have been in place since the school was constructed in 1970, Belson said.

"It's a very exciting project for us," Belson said.

Once the state funds are secured, Belson said he expects to go back to the Medford City Council within the first few weeks in February to ask for a bond for the remaining funds.

If approved, the work for the new science labs would likely begin over the summer and extend into the 2013-2014 school year, Belson said.