Tisbury school leaders are ready to jump start a new school building project, following the news last week that the town has qualified for a Massachusetts School Building Authority grant.

At the town selectmen’s meeting Tuesday, principal John Custer, school committee chairman Colleen McAndrews, school committee member Janet Packer and assistant superintendent Richard Smith presented the board with an agreement to sign with the state agency.

“We’re very lucky to have the MSBA wanting to partner with us,” said Mrs. McAndrews. “We’ll have a lot of expert advice a lot of experience guiding us through this project.”

On Jan. 27 school leaders learned that the school had advanced to the next step of the MSBA grant process, which is expected to lead to funding and planning assistance for a new school. Out of 96 schools that applied, eight were notified that they could proceed to the next step in the process.

The school has 270 days from Feb. 10 to complete the first stage. School leaders hope to have a money article on the April annual town meeting warrant for a project manager and architectural fees.

“We’re moving quickly and we were told by the MSBA that’s more than appropriate,” said Mrs. McAndrews. “We are trying to fast track this.”

The selectmen will meet again on Feb. 16 to sign the agreement. They voted to appoint selectman Melinda Loberg to the school building committee, another step in the process.