Surrey school trustee Reni Masi is pushing the district to expand a program aimed at eggheads.

Masi plans to urge his fellow trustees to support his call to open an International Baccalaureate Programme, a program geared toward the school district's academic stars, at a second site in the city.

Masi intends to take up the issue at Thursday's school board meeting.

"It's a highly recognized international academic program," Masi said in an interview with the Now on Wednesday.

The two-year International Baccalaureate program allows students to earn university credits and preferred admission to the world's tops schools "and we're talking like Oxford, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, the University of California at Berkeley. These students - they go to the top schools after they get through the program."

The program started at Semiahmoo Secondary school in South Surrey about 30 years ago with one class.

Over the years, enrolment in the program has steadily grown. Currently, the program has 210 students and can't accept any more because the school has run out of space.

"There's just no more room," Masi said.

Masi wants the school district to open a second International Baccalaureate Programme in the north end of the city to give more students an opportunity to complete their education at the Ivy Leagues.

Masi conceded that the school district is constantly grappling with tight budgets but believes the district can find the funds in its budget to support the worthy program.

He said it would cost about $300,000 a year to operate the program "which is significant money, but it's a very doable in terms of the $520-million budget."

If approved, the target date set to open the second International Baccalaureate Programme is September 2012. No school has been identified to host the program but Masi suspects high schools would fight over it.