Scarborough voters rejected both school referendums that were on the ballot this Election Day. The questions asked voters to approve $38.3 million to demolish and rebuild Wentworth Intermediate and $16.5 million to add onto and renovate the middle school.

Voters turned down Wentworth Intermediate 5,176 to 3,316 and the middle school 4,974 to 3,578.

The addition and renovation to the middle school was intended to address capacity problems, said school officials, while the complete replacement of Wentworth was due to an old, failing building that does not meet many of the current building and safety codes.

Scarborough Town Clerk Tody Justice speculated that the two high school referendums combined with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights helped push Scarborough’s voter turn out to 61 percent.

“The trend in Scarborough has always been an increased turn out every election,” said Justice. Out of about 14,500 registered voters, said Justice, 8,822 cast either an absentee or regular ballot.

As voters were leaving the polls at the high school on Tuesday night, many Scarborough residents were not in favor of spending money on new schools, citing recent town projects like the $27 million high school and high taxes.

“I think we’ve done a lot lately in town,” said Jim Bowes. “We need to take a break.”

Lynda Griffith, who has children in the middle school, Wentworth and the high school, voted in favor of the Wentworth project but voted no on the middle school. While she feels that Wentworth is old and needs to be rebuilt, she thinks moving the 6th grade could solve space problems and spare the town the cost of adding onto the middle school.

For Dan Sullivan, who said he also voted for the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, the schools were just too costly.

“We don’t need to be spending all this money,” said Sullivan

Scarborough voters reject two school questions