New Elementary School Project Falls Short in Town Meeting Vote

The proposal to build a new Swampscott elementary school failed to get the needed support of two-thirds of Town Meeting voters on Monday night.

The final vote tally was 140-98.

Voters had been asked to approve the $52.6 million project that would have combined the town’s three existing elementary schools into one building that would be built behind the existing middle school on Forest Avenue.

The town’s share of the cost was estimated at $35.7 million, with the remaining $16.8 million coming from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

Monday night’s vote would have been the first of two steps to approve the project. If it had been approved, it would have gone before voters at the election on Nov. 4.