SALEM — City councilors last night voted to join the proposed megavoke, the merger of Essex Aggie, North Shore Tech and Peabody's high school vocational program.
The unanimous vote means that Salem joins Peabody, Danvers, Gloucester and other communities to opt into the proposed district.
"It's an opportunity I think we can't pass up," Ward 1 Councilor Robert McCarthy said.
Salem is expected to pay between 17 percent and 19 percent of the cost of the school system over the next 30 years.
Those payments are expected to peak at $452,299 in fiscal 2014.
The voke would open in 2013 on the campus of Essex Aggie in Danvers.
Overall, the 16 cities and towns of the North Shore Regional Vocational School District, plus Peabody, are being asked to contribute $31.2 million toward the overall $133.8 million cost.
The state has committed about $100 million, including $77.5 million from the Massachusetts School Building Authority and $21.1 million from the governor.
Some 109 students from Salem attend North Shore Tech and 27 students go to Essex Aggie. About 50 students are placed on waiting lists to get into the two schools — something that will change when the new school is built.
In response to questions over what the city's financial liability would be if a community later wanted to opt out of the district, Mayor Kim Driscoll said it's an unlikely scenario, since it would first require a unanimous vote of the other communities.
Overall, city officials said they were excited about the prospect of a state-of-the-art vocational school.
"They'll be the most advanced facilities at the time this school opens and will create more opportunities for those that attend," said Salem schools Superintendent William Cameron.
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