WORCESTER, Mass. - Worcester's City Council voted to authorize a statement of interest to add Burncoat Middle School to a planned construction project at Tuesday’s meeting.

This comes after delaying a vote twice in order to get more information on how the new school's construction would impact the city's finances.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority voted to make Burncoat High School eligible for state funding last December.

Now, the council is hoping the same can be done for the middle school.

Mayor Joe Petty said it makes sense for the projects to be done at the same time since they share some infrastructure and programming.

"They may have shared resources, maybe a shared auditorium, shared art center, which has some cost savings going forward," said Mayor Petty. "Since the turn of the century we've done every comprehensive high school in the city of Worcester which is important, it's costly, but important for the city to be competitive and make sure we have the right facilities for our students."

The statement of interest looks to get additional funding from the Massachusetts School Building authority for the construction.

The expected project timeline is from 2025 to 2028.