FALMOUTH – Construction is set to begin on a $2.3 million middle school at Gov. Baxter School for the Deaf, the first new building at the state school on Mackworth Island in nearly 50 years.

The Legislature authorized funding for the project two years ago.

School officials hope the state-of-the-art building and the education offered there will help convince more deaf and hard-of-hearing students to attend Baxter School.

The school serves 70 students at the island campus, while also providing outreach services to more than 500 other hearing-impaired students in regular schools around the state.

The new construction comes as Baxter School has been working to rebuild its educational programs and reputation after experiencing a variety of problems. They have included frequent turnover in leadership, declining enrollment and negative publicity concerning revelations of physical and sexual abuse of students at the school in the 1960s and 1970s.

The school, which had to shut down its high school program, is sending its 10 high school students to Portland High School in September. The state said Baxter has too few high school students to offer the kind of education demanded by Maine’s new education standards, called Learning Results.

However, Baxter won full approval from the state for its elementary and middle school programs, which were described as “very strong,” and school officials hope the new middle school will help increase enrollment.

“It’s an exciting time for us,” said Baxter’s superintendent, Larry Taub, at an informational meeting on the new school Tuesday night.

The new middle school will be able to serve as many as 50 students, although it is expected to open in the fall of 2004 with just 10 or 12, Taub said. However, the new school also will be able to accommodate students who are deaf and blind. About 10 such students now must attend school outside the state for services.