Framingham Expects New Fuller MS To Cost Less Than Expected

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Work on the new Fuller Middle School building is progressing — and the project may come under-budget, according to school officials.

The district's contractor has been preparing the site since the June 18 groundbreaking. Next, crews will dig the foundation, and then erect the building's steel frame.

At a Monday School Building Committee meeting, officials learned that the project may come in as much as $500,000 under budget due to construction refinements. The school was projected to cost $98.3 million.

Voters last December approved a debt exclusion to build the new school. The Massachusetts School Building Authority will reimburse $39.5 million of the total cost, and Framingham taxpayers will pay the remaining $58.8 million.

The new school should open by the 2021-22 school year. The replacement school will be three stories and include larger classrooms, a 420-seat auditorium, and an 8,300-square-foot gym. The existing Fuller Middle School was build in 1958 as Framingham South High School. It became a middle school in the 1990s when the district consolidated the two high schools.