Cape Elizabeth voters should meet in the middle on a school proposal

Two years ago, 62% of voters voted in Cape Elizabeth rejected a $116 million school bond proposal. Now we must decide whether to accept the current “Middle Ground”. $89.9 million proposal.

In 2022 I voted no. This year I’m voting yes.

Although all three Cape schools have sprawling, outdated layouts, the secondary school is the worst. The narrow stairwells of the ‘Thirties Building’ pose an evacuation and safety risk. The Thirties Building is aesthetically pleasing on the outside, but an educational nightmare on the inside. The classrooms are minuscule and limit students’ active learning strategies. The high school has an A+ music program in an F facility.

The problems continue. High school is a mess.

Following the 2022 defeat, a School Construction Advisory Committee (SBAC) was appointed to advise on next steps.

Ultimately, five SBAC members voted in favor of an approach that only required renovations, ‘Option B’. The four other members favored “Option E,” which combined a new high school and renovations to the other schools.

The expected cost of Option B was between $77 million and $83 million, compared to the cost of Option E of $114 million. Given the close vote, the school board heard from SBAC supporters on both options in a public meeting.

After listening to the architect, the owner’s representative and the proponents of both options, the board, after a lengthy public discussion, instructed the architect to come back with a new construction proposal that addressed the opponents’ objections.

The architect took up the challenge. The Middle Ground option addresses all the safety and education concerns and many of its opponents’ objections while lowering the price to $89.9 million.

In addition to providing a new high school, the proposal also addresses important elementary school issues. It offers, among other things, a new, secure school entrance, with adjacent administration offices with clear sight lines to the entrance; and the ‘cafetorium’ will be an exclusive primary school space, meaning our youngest children will eat for the first time when it makes sense.

Were there any compromises in achieving the Middle Ground option? Yes, but they are sensible compromises.

Compared to the Middle Way, Option B would have kept class sizes the same; continued to use the 1930s building; displaced half of Cape’s elementary and middle school students one year and the other half the next, at a cost of $3 million, without any lasting benefit; and led to a budget cliff within ten to twenty years, when most parts of the middle and elementary schools become obsolete.

Opponents of the Middle Ground suggest the bond cost is $94 million, while the real cost is more than $100 million. These claims are misleading or lack context.

First, the cost of the Middle Ground is $89.9 million. The total cost of the bond proposal is nearly $95 million, as the City Council added nearly $5 million to renovate the 1930s building, even though there is no renovation plan and no plan for how the building will be used.

Fortunately, bonds for the added amount cannot be issued, even if approved by voters, without a plan in place, according to Bond Counsel. In other words, these additional resources should never be spent.

Perhaps the municipality can be convinced to find a private developer to renovate that building, at private expense, into apartments for Cape’s teachers, police or the elderly? You can hope.

Second, opponents give the impression that baked-in, hidden, future tax increases are on the way, resulting from increases in the capital improvement budget to meet the needs of other schools. That statement is misleading. The school district already has a capital and maintenance budget. If inflation only increases, that budget will eventually be able to finance the necessary projects. So there are no hidden tax increases.

Finally, the opponents’ arguments lack a critical context: the costs of the alternative plan. At a range of $77 million to $83 million, Option B is also expensive; it would increase taxes somewhere between 9.9 and 11%, compared to 11.6% for the Middle Ground alone, without the council surcharge.

Cape voters face an important question as $89.9 million is a lot. Even with the plan to spread the impact (with tax increases of 0%, 1.9%, 5.8% and 3.9% over four years), the costs are high.

But it’s time to stop kicking the can. The Middle Ground option deserves approval, including by the 62% of us who, like me, voted ‘no’ last time.