DEXTER – The State Board of Education has given its stamp of approval to a parcel of land off Fern Road as the site for a proposed prekindergarten through grade eight school for SAD 46.

The board voted unanimously to support the approximately 50-acre site during its August meeting which was held Wednesday at the Sanford Vocational Technical Center.

“This is big news,” Superintendent of Schools Kevin Jordan said Thursday. “We’re very excited to have this approval.”

District residents last month approved the purchase of three adjoining lots on Fern Road for $187,000 in a nonbinding straw poll. The Maine Department of Education will contribute $44,250 toward the purchase of the property.

The site replaces the existing school site in Dexter that was deemed insufficient for the 700-pupil school. The existing site is at the top of a hill, cannot be expanded and its entrance is on a steep grade that runs through a residential section of Dexter.

It also has extensive ledge and is bordered by Wassookeag Lake, the town’s water supply.

The Fern Road site is in a central location that is closer to Garland and Exeter.

Elementary schools in those communities will be closed when the new school opens in the fall of 2009 if all goes according to plan.

Jordan estimated that the new elementary school would cost in the $25 million to $30 million range and said that most of the cost would be covered by the state.

“The state will be a participant at such a high level that it’s a very good deal for the [local] taxpayers,” he said.

Jordan said the next step in the process is to begin work on the design of the school. Once that is complete, it would be presented to the community for another straw vote.

If the vote proves successful, the design would be taken to the Board of Education for concept approval in October. If approved by the board, Jordan said, he expected to bring the school project before SAD 46 voters in January.