Pre-Referendum Archive

If Question 1 does not pass, the incoming surge of nearly 200 students—based on children already born in Scarborough— will further exacerbate crowding in our K-2 schools, and subsequently impact Wentworth and the Middle School. With no available space to add additional portables at the K-2 school sites, temporary solutions will need to be funded to accommodate these students until a permanent solution is approved by voters. Delaying action will not only impact overcrowding, but will prolong existing concerns such as safety and security, facilities that do not adequately support programming, and inefficient HVAC. Additionally, further delay will likely result in higher construction costs, so tax dollars won’t go as far to address these needs.

This school building project is solving many needs caused by undersized and outdated schools, including:

1. Ensuring there is adequate space to accommodate a sharp increase in enrollment (based on children already born in Scarborough, we anticipate an enrollment increase of nearly 200 in K-2 schools by 2028-29, Wentworth by 2031-32 and the Middle School by 2034-35)
2. Providing adequate workspace for staff, to avoid crowding or being displaced due to lack of sufficient meeting space
3. Replacing thirty aging temporary portables with permanent building additions
4. Creating separate cafeteria and gym spaces to support programming needs and eliminate loss of time that results from transitioning between shared uses
5. Providing dedicated spaces for state-mandated programs that currently lack space (for example, intervention or special education programming)
6. Ensuring there is adequate parking at all schools
7. Adding insulation to the K-2 primary schools for improved energy efficiency
8. Improved heating/cooling efficiency, including installing air-conditioning at the K-2 primary schools (Wentworth and the Middle School already have air-conditioning)
9. Ensuring all schools have secure front entry vestibules for better safety/security and administrative oversight
10.  Creating dedicated space for art and music programming with adequate storage to support their programming
11.  Providing adequately sized, confidential, and secure health clinic space
12.  Addressing site safety by separating bus and car drop-off areas

Based on children we know have already been born, we are projecting an increase of almost 200 students in the Primary Schools (grades K-2) within the next 5 years (2028-29: 817 vs. 2024-25: 622) and an increase of over 200 students in Wentworth (grades 3-5) in the next seven years (2031-32: 890 vs. 2024-25: 671). It is anticipated that this enrollment increase will hit the Middle School (grades 6-8) in subsequent years (2034-2035).

For the most recent and detailed enrollment projections, please see the PowerPoint presentation to the School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC) from January 13, 2025 here.

The portables currently at Scarborough Public Schools have been a necessary stop-gap. Unfortunately, they are not designed for longevity and are extremely costly to maintain beyond their expected 20-30 year lifecycle. Many of our portables are over 20 years old and would be cost-prohibitive to continue to maintain (there are 18 portables at the K-2 schools and 12 at the Middle School).

At the Middle School, the entire 6th grade is housed in portables. Students must walk between the main building and portables multiple times per day for various programming, which poses a safety concern. 

The building lifespan for new construction is typically about 60 years. Major renovations tend to be needed within the 30 to 40 years of construction. Individual systems within the building have life spans ranging from approximately 20-40 years.

1. Blue Point was built in 1965 and an addition was made in 1993; 4 portable classrooms were added in 2001
2. Pleasant Hill was built in 1957 and an addition was made in 1993; 2 portables were added in 2001, and 2 more portable classrooms were added in 2020
3. Eight Corners was built in 1959 and an addition was made in 1993; 4 portable classrooms  were added in 2001, 2 were added in 2008, 2 more in 2019, and 2 more in 2020 for a total of 10 existing portable classrooms today
4. Wentworth School was built in 2014
5. The Middle School was built in 1996; 6 portables were added in 2000, 6 more in 2001 2001, and 6 more in 2008. Currently 12 are used for classrooms
    

Addressing overcrowding is a key focus for the school project, to ensure all students have the space they need for learning and required services. Overcrowding is about more than just the number of students in a given school. It includes the availability (or lack) of space for legally mandated programs and services. When most of Scarborough’s schools were built, program and service requirements were significantly lower than they are today. As those requirements have grown, additional space is needed to reasonably accommodate those needs.

Some examples of these legally required needs for additional space are: 

1. Accommodating and supporting our special education students
2. Providing intervention services under Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) for any general education student not making adequate academic progress
3. Support for Multilingual Learners (MLL) students

Additionally, overcrowding also refers to having multiple programming needs share spaces that were not designed to accommodate this type of sharing. Some examples of this are:

1. Music and art sharing the same small rooms, requiring significant restructuring of the room between classes.
2. Physical Education (PE) and the food service cafeteria sharing the same space, resulting in crowding issues like folded up tables being covered in pads to prevent children from running into them during PE.

There are two pages of ballots to cast your vote on for the Nov 4th election, one for the Town of Scarborough and one for the State of Maine. The town ballot is a 2 sided document, so be sure to cast your vote on all local questions on each side of the ballot.

You can see a sample preview of what the ballot looks like here.

The School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC) recommended splitting the school building proposal into two separate questions. Question #1 meets the immediate needs for the known student population growth, based on data of children in Scarborough already born. Question #2 authorizes a larger addition to Scarborough Middle School to accommodate projected enrollment increases expected in 2034-35.

The SBAC recommended the separation of questions in an effort to keep the base cost of the school building project proposal within the cost range of $70-130M supported in a 2024 community survey, while still giving Scarborough citizens a chance to separately vote to meet expected--but not yet realized--needs.

The school building referendums will be on the ballot for the upcoming November 4th election. On Election Day, In-person voting can be done at Scarborough High School, located at 11 Municipal Drive. Polls are open from 7am to 8pm.

Early voting will open on October 6, and can be done in person at Town Hall or by mail.

For information on absentee ballots, and further details about the upcoming election, please see the Town of Scarborough’s election webpage.

While the student population increase that would make Question #2 necessary is not realized yet, this growth is expected soon based on thorough projections. Undertaking this improvement with the improvements in Question #1 allows for cost savings through efficiencies realized by being paired with other projects, and avoiding inflation costs that could be incurred for the same project scope constructed at a later date.

The School Building Communications Committee was proactively developed to share details about the school project so that voters are well-equipped to understand the referendum on the November 2025 ballot. The committee takes a thoughtful approach to provide information that is clear, accurate, and neutral. As such, the committee does not engage in encouraging the community to vote in any particular way. 

Communications are intended to describe the purpose behind the project, the needs and challenges in our K-8 schools, the community-led process that developed the long-term solution proposed, and further details on the cost. The goal for the committee is to ensure residents have the resources available to them to make informed decisions when they vote. Information is being shared through public forums, direct mail, social media, public signage, and one-on-one conversations.

Community members are welcome to share their input through public forums, public comment at Communication Committee meetings, and by directly contacting the Communication Committee through its contact us page.

The Communications Committee is dedicated to keeping the community informed and engaged throughout the referendum process. As such, information will be shared broadly through regular updates on the school building project's website, Communication Committee and School Board meetings, Town newsletters, press releases and social media (Facebook and Instagram).

Additionally, the Communications Committee has created a subscription opportunity for community members interested in receiving notifications when updates are made to our school building project webpage. To subscribe, please follow the steps outlined in the video below.

All current site plans for school building additions and renovations will be open to community feedback and improvements moving forward, including after the referendum vote, if the result is a yes vote.

The school building proposals on the November 2025 ballot are to authorize the Town of Scarborough taking out bonds, up to a specific dollar amount for specific purposes, but do not lock-in any of the current site plans.

Currently, the $129.85M project (Question 1) will cost the median taxpayer an estimated average of $386/year, based on a $600K median home value. Question 2, which is proposing $10M for additional Middle School expansion, would cost the same taxpayer an estimated $30/year, on average, over the life of the bond. The Town of Scarborough is actively exploring ways to reduce the cost to taxpayers through mechanisms such as increased impact fees, which would shift a greater share of the cost to developers. Such cost saving measures are not yet reflected in the official tax impact projections.

Payments are estimated to be higher in the initial years of the bond but drop over time. As noted the Scarborough Town Council Finance Committee is discussing ways to minimize the tax impact overall, as well as during the peak initial years of the bond.

For detailed information on the tax impact (before savings mechanisms), see the 2025 School Tax Impact Calculator.

The School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC) worked diligently to provide a recommendation that prioritized cost effectiveness, while still meeting the needs of Scarborough students and staff. Some factors that impacted building costs:

1. We all know how dramatically costs have increased, through inflation, over the last two years. This is especially true in the construction industry. With this in mind, it is of note that the currently proposed $130 million bond is $30 million less than the previous 2023 bond. It is an even greater cost reduction when accounting for inflation.
2. Most other cost-saving options that were available would have been too impactful on students and staff and/or actually cost more over time. A perfect example of this is insulation. The SBAC could have recommended against adding insulation to the K-2 primary schools as part of the renovations. Not only would this have resulted in continued discomfort for students and staff, but it also would have had significant financial costs over time in lost thermal efficiency.

There is no “going over” the bond amount. When a public school project passes at referendum, we cannot spend any more funds than what was allocated by voters for the project. As such, if the referendum passed for $129.85M (question 1), that is the highest amount that could be spent. If voters approved the supplemental question as well — an additional $10M for the Middle School project — the maximum expenditure allowed would be $139.85M.

If contractor bids for a project were to come in higher than the approved referendum amount, the Town would evaluate next steps and determine if the project can be brought within budget through a process known as “Value Engineering” and/or whether they would ask voters for additional funds to make up the difference. Value Engineering is a tool used in construction projects to identify scope or other elements of the project to modify to reduce cost.

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) opens their applications for state funding approximately once every 7 years. The most recent state funding list was released in July 2025. Scarborough submitted applications for the three K-2 schools and the Middle School. Of the 95 schools ranked across Maine, our schools ranked as follows:

• Eight Corners: 34th
• Pleasant Hill: 39th
• Blue Point: 59th
• Middle School: 60th

The state of Maine historically chooses schools to assist with funding on projects for schools that are ranked between 1-10. As such, it is unexpected that Scarborough Public Schools will state funding for a building project in the near future.

The Town of Scarborough is actively exploring ways to try to reduce the tax impact on Scarborough residents. These options include updated impact fees that shift more of the tax burden to developers, bond restructuring, and operating budget adjustments.

On October 9, 2025, the Scarborough Finance Committee voted to send a proposed update to the school impact fees to the full Town Council. The updated impact fees are estimated to collect approximately $45 million, which would significantly reduce tax impact on residents. School impact fees are collected when new development happens, with the intention to offset some of the financial impact of new development.

Town Council members have also raised the possibility of restructuring the bonding process to lower initial tax impact by deferring early interest payments. While this would shift some cost to later in the bond repayment cycle, it is an example of the Town’s commitment to exploring all avenues of reducing tax impact during the years that are projected to have the highest costs to taxpayers.

The current tax impact estimates (an average of $386/year for the median homeowner) do not account for new school tax impact fees, recent interest rate reductions, bond restructuring, or operating budget adjustments. Additionally, the overall project cost estimates include a contingency of up to 25%, to protect from unexpected costs that may arise during construction. All of these factors point to significant future opportunities for lower overall tax impact on residents.

Throughout the process, there has been thoughtful effort to keep the cost estimates realistic.  For example, the School Tax Impact Calculator could have been modeled to produce lower tax estimates by assuming lower interest rates, which have recently declined.  The overall project cost estimates include contingency dollars of up to 25% to protect from any unexpected costs during construction. Existing impact fees, which are charged on new residential development, are also not included in the cost estimates (but they will help reduce the tax impact on residents).  All of these factors point to future opportunities for lower overall payments.

There are many factors that make a school building cost more than an office building of the same size, such as:

• Significantly more bathrooms, especially in the K-2 schools
• Kitchens, with commercial equipment
• Less open space, which equates to increased cost for partitions, doors, lighting, and HVAC
• Costly audio-visual needs
• The large amount of storage furnishings required
• Specialty spaces that require unique equipment, such as art/music rooms, gyms, special education program requirements, school clinics, and science classrooms
• Additional safety measures, like secure vestibules

Construction at the three primary schools is anticipated to be complete for the 2029/30 school year. The new Eight Corners School will be constructed in 2 phases. The existing school will remain operational while Phase 1 is constructed. When Phase 1 is complete, students will move into the new building and the existing school will be demolished, making way for Phase 2 to be constructed. 

This approach will be similar for the additions and renovations at Pleasant Hill and Blue Point Schools. The construction will happen in phases and once a phase is completed it will be turned over to the school for occupancy. In each phase, construction activity will be separated from building occupants.

Similar approaches will be executed at Wentworth and the Middle School, but the overall project length at these schools is anticipated to be between 12-18 or 12- 24 months, depending on which middle school option is supported by voters.

The School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC) and Harriman have taken this question very seriously in their planning. School construction and renovation, at all schools on the referendum, are being designed to be implemented in smaller stages that minimize impact, allow for all schools to be addressed in a similar timeframe, and to ensure that students and staff are completely separated from active construction zones.

The increase in footprint is a result of many converging factors. These factors include providing adequate room to support missing program spaces and meet State guidelines, replacement of portables with permanent building additions, solving for a severe lack of space for staff needs and storage, and rightsizing for severely inadequate parking space.

The playgrounds will be at least as big as they are right now. Some playground areas at the primary schools will be relocated to new areas of the same school site to accommodate upgrade needs. However, these relocations do not reduce size/scope of playground areas versus what currently exists.

The Town of Scarborough has not selected a builder or put the school building project out for contractor bidding. After a successful referendum, time is needed to design and create the construction documents. The project will be advertised and put through a competitive bidding process approximately 12 months after being passed by voters.

The Mountain Valley Community School project in Mexico, Maine is significantly different from Scarborough’s K-8 Schools Solution going to voters November 4th. While both projects were designed by Harriman, there are key differences between them. Below is a table comparing the major differences between the two projects that impact project cost.

A consolidated school model has strengths and was a viable option under consideration throughout the School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC) process. Some of the reasons the SBAC preferred a neighborhood K-2 schools option and voted to send it to referendum instead
are:

• Listening to Scarborough Residents - The SBAC process included robust community input through multiple surveys, public meetings, forums, and community comment submissions. The SBAC consistently heard Scarborough residents express a preference for a neighborhood K-2 school option, even when potential drawbacks were accounted for.
• Cost - A consolidated school option would have cost approximately $17 million more than the neighborhood K-2 schools option. The SBAC felt it was important to be good fiscal stewards and to honor the $130M cost limit outlined by Scarborough residents in a previous survey, in the base question (question 1) of the referendum. A consolidated school option would have cost well beyond this limit.
• Keeping it Local - Some SBAC members and Scarborough residents valued minimizing the commute for our youngest school members, preserving a smaller community feel, and maintaining a unique character for each primary school.

Building a fourth K-2 school was one of the options contemplated by the School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC); however, ultimately the SBAC decided not to move forward with this option due to several factors:

• The projected cost for doing so exceeded the budget range of $70M - $130M that had been established by community feedback in a survey of Scarborough residents.
• Even under a four-school scenario, each existing K-2 school would require an addition to replace portable classrooms and add needed program space.
• Adding a fourth school would increase annual staffing costs by requiring an entire management structure and support spaces for a relatively small number of classrooms.
• Building a fourth school would have required the purchase and development of land. The committee explored land acquisition but ultimately decided this was cost-prohibitive.

While this idea has a lot of merit, its challenges become clear with further exploration. Most importantly, the Scarborough community, through multiple surveys and many public comments, has expressed a desire to maintain smaller and more neighborhood-centric elementary schools. Proposing an even larger EC could feel, to many, like a mini-consolidated school.

On a more nuts-and-bolts level, redistricting to send students, who would currently go to BP and PH, to EC would create large resource inequities and cost inefficiencies between the schools.

There is no requirement or mandate for publicly funded pre-k in Maine. The state of Maine passed LD 1799 in 2023, which set non-enforceable goals to encourage school districts to explore publicly funded pre-k. There is currently no known timeline of when, or if, the state of Maine would consider mandating publicly funded pre-k.

The Scarborough School Board did not include pre-k in the charge and scope for the School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC) when recommending referendum proposals. This decision was based on:

• A desire to focus the SBAC’s efforts on Scarborough schools’ existing needs and currently served student populations.
• Mindfulness  of the increased potential tax impact on Scarborough homeowners.
• The lack of a state mandate or requirement for publicly funded pre-k.
   

The School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC) was a joint School Board and Town Council advisory committee formed In February 2024. The goal of the SBAC was to engage the residents of Scarborough in a conversation to find the best school solution for our community, following the result of the previous school building referendum in November 2023.

Over 18 months, the SBAC explored a wide range of school options. The effort incorporated a rigorous community feedback process including two community surveys, public forums, and joint School Board/Town Council meetings to ensure robust participation along the way. In June 2025, the SBAC presented their recommended solution to the Scarborough School Board and Town Council.

The November 2023 ballot included a question asking Scarborough residents to authorize the issuance of up to $160,000,000 in general obligation bonds to fund the unified K-3 elementary school and renovations to the middle school. Scarborough residents ultimately voted against the school project by 5,913 votes to 3,363 votes to support the project.