Somerville voters approve funding for $257M school

SOMERVILLE, Mass. (AP) - Voters in the Boston suburb of Somerville have approved a plan to build the state’s most expensive school.

Somerville residents on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a temporary property tax increase to fund more than $130 million of the city’s estimated $137 million share of the more than quarter-billion dollar high school.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority board is scheduled to decide in February whether to approve an estimated $120 million state share of the project.

Newton North High School, which opened in 2010, cost nearly $200 million and is currently the state’s costliest school construction project.

Mayor Joseph Curtatone tells The Boston Globe the vote means “a brighter educational future” for the city.