Foxborough Regional Charter School Project Gets $26.6 Million Bond

A charter school serving 20 towns, including Norton, has received a $26.6 million tax-exempt bond for a 27-classroom middle and high school addition and to refinance its mortgage on its Foxboro facility.

Foxborough Regional Charter School Director Mark Logan said Monday that classes will move into the roughly 60,000-square-foot addition next winter. The new classrooms will replace the K-12 school's 26 modular classrooms, he said. The charter school has had modular classrooms since 2004, adding more since then.

The project will cost $13.5 million, The Foxboro Reporter has reported. Logan said Monday the constructio cost came in lower than scbool officials expected.

MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development agency, issued the bond.

Besides the 27 classrooms, the project will include three science laboratories, a performance stage, a new computer and language laboratories, a new gym that will seat 1,200, renovating the school's cafeteria and media center, and other capital improvement projects, according to the agency.

"With the variety of resources in this new addition, the Foxborough Regional Charter School can reach many aspects of students' lives: artistically, academically, and athletically," MassDevelopment President and CEO Robert L. Culver said Monday in a press release.

"We were happy to work with the school to make the construction and renovations possible, meeting demand for the school's services and continuing the great tradition of education here in Massachusetts."  

The school, which has a waiting list of more than 1,100, serves 1,185 students from 20 area communities: Attleboro, Avon, Brockton, Canton, Easton, Foxboro, Mansfield, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, North Attleboro, Norton, Norwood, Plainville, Sharon, Stoughton, Walpole, West Bridgewater and Wrentham. 

Logan said site work on the project began over the summer, when new modular high school classrooms were added.

Landscaping and parking lot work is expected during the spring of 2012, after the classes move into the addition, he said.

School officials bonded the project because "it's become much more favorable for municipalities and charter schools to get bond financing," Logan said.

Also, charter schools aren't eligible for Massachusetts School Building Authority assistance, he said.