AUBURN — The dream of a new Edward Little High School is starting to look more like a reality in the making.

State Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, on Thursday announced that the Maine Department of Education is expected to recommend that construction of a high school be added to the approved list of projects. This approval is the first in a series of steps that will qualify the project for state funding.

Earlier this year, Brakey sponsored legislation to ensure that in the event of a new statewide assessment for school construction funding, approval for a new Edward Little High School would remain secure.

“It has been a long time since the last assessment, and a new assessment may be timely, but the needs of Auburn students have not diminished,” Brakey said Thursday. “Now is the time for a new high school in Auburn.”

The Department of Education will make its recommendation to the State Board of Education at its next meeting Sept. 14. If the board approves the recommendation, planning can begin. Traditionally, the state pays for the entire project as approved, but features deemed “extras” would require local funding.  

The school was built on in 1961 at 77 Harris St. Ambitions to replace the building — described by many as dark, dank, energy-inefficient and lacking the space for mandated programs — stretch back more than a decade. The community has had a strong interest in a new high school, school officials said, but could not afford to pay for it with only local financing.

“With a little more patience than many may have wanted, we have reached the time for Edward Little to be placed on the approved projects list for state capital funding,” Mayor Jonathan LaBonte said.

“Streets, winter maintenance, parks, water and sewer are all important to economic development, but none rise to the level of a strong educational system. A modern EL will complement the strong staff team already there, and position us to look at new programs and partnerships to attract families and businesses to our city and region,” he said.

Past estimates to build a high school have been $62 million.

It may still be several years before ground is broken on a new construction site, but approval to begin planning is an important first step in the process to receive state support for new school construction.

The news made swift rounds Thursday afternoon on social media.

“Let’s go Auburn,” LaBonte posted on his Facebook page. “It’s our time!”

ELHS by the numbers

1835: Year Auburn had its first high school, called Lewiston Falls Academy

1961: Year the current school was built

$1.9 million: Cost to build at that time

56 acres: The size of the school’s current site.

$62 million: Most recent cost estimate to build a school

2009: Year the school was placed on probation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges for reasons that included “poor and inadequate condition of the school’s kitchen facility . . . insufficient heating system” and low funding for educational resources and technology.

2013: Year a committee recommended local taxpayers pay for a new school without state help. The decision was made to wait for state funding.

Copy the Story Link