Shawsheen Regional Expansion Will Carry Minor Cost for Tewksbury

The fact that Shawsheen Valley Tech of Billerica, the vocational high school serving , is preparing to embark on a $4.7 million expansion project, may send shudders through some residents already concerned about and a new

But Shawsheen Superintendent Charles Lyons said the cost of the project to the district's member towns will be minor.

"The state is going to be picking up just over 55 percent of the cost, about $2.6 million," said Lyons. "The payments for the towns will be spread over 10 years, and (the district) will pick up 100 percent of the cost for the first year."

Shawsheen presently has an enrollment of approximately 1,300 students, drawing from Tewksbury, Wilmington, Billerica, Burlington, and Bedford.

Tewksbury presently sends 434 students to Shawsheen and its assessment (based on a per pupil formula) for Fiscal Year 2011, was just over $5,077,000. According to Lyons, the expansion project will result in an increase in the assessment of about $1.5 percent.

"Year one the cost would be $169,000 and we will pay that. Years 2-9, the added assessment for the project will be a little over $50,000 a year," he said. "We're going to level fund capital assessment in (Fiscal Year) 2012. The towns will only start to see an increase in Fiscal Year 2013."

The expansion project will include total construction of 14,500 square feet of addition al space. According to Lyons, the new space will allow the addition of new programs of instruction in the science/medical field.

Enrollment at Shawsheen among Tewksbury students has risen sharply in recent years. According to Lyons, the number of Tewksbury pupils at the school has increased by 100 over the past five years, including a jump  from 412 to 434 in the last year.

"We had 200 applicants from Tewksbury this year and were only able to accept 108," said Lyons.