LEWISTON – The State Board of Education has unanimously approved funding for a new $21.9 million Pettingill School, Superintendent Leon Levesque said Monday.

The state will pay more than 96 percent of the cost, he said. “The local cost is $764,631, or 3.61 percent. So it’s very doable.”

A special election to vote on the new school will likely be held in conjunction with a special election to choose a new mayor early next year, Levesque said. Mayor Lionel Guay announced his resignation Monday.

While the city wants voters to decide both the school and mayor in the same special election, Levesque cautioned that for Pettingill to open in the fall of 2009, the latest the school referendum could be held would be mid-February. After that, the project would run into time problems, Levesque said. The city is looking at holding an election for mayor in late January.

As proposed, the new school would be built on College Street where there now is a golf driving range. It would be a school that’s energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, Levesque said. It would feature a regulation-size gymnasium, a cafeteria, a computer lab, an art room, a music room, rooms for guidance, the school nurse and tutoring. Many of those services are now in the old school’s basement.

A new grades K-6 Pettingill School is needed because the existing one is overcrowded, and doesn’t lend itself to the needs of today’s students. Pettingill was built in the 1930s and an addition was added in the 1950s.

The new school would be large, housing up to 624 students, relieving overcrowding at Montello Elementary School. About 200 students would move from Montello to Pettingill.

If voters approve the school, that would leave three older Lewiston schools that need frequent repairs and are overcrowded: Martel Elementary and the Lewiston Middle School, both built in the 1930s; and Longley Elementary School, built in the 1960s.

Old, large schools are costly, Levesque said. The middle school on Central Avenue was originally a high school. “We’re constantly doing repair work on it every year,” he said.