On the eve of a second Scarborough vote, school spending advocates and opponents are both calling for residents to defeat the revised proposal.

A second referendum on the new school budget in Scarborough, scheduled for next week, could be headed for defeat now that two different groups with two different agendas are calling for the spending measure to be scuttled.

A vote on the new $43.3 million school budget, which represents a $500,000 reduction from the initial budget amount of $43.8 million, will be held on Tuesday, July 7, at Town Hall. Under this budget, taxpayers could see a 72-cent increase in the tax rate.

Next week’s vote follows a referendum on June 9 during which the majority of voters rejected school spending as being too high. But, this week the group Save Scarborough Schools has begun an active social media effort to convince people to vote no on the new budget for the opposite reason – because it’s too low.

On Monday, Donna Beeley, chairwoman of the Board of Education, said the possibility that the school budget could be defeated again is “a concern for sure,” particularly since the new fiscal year starts on July 1.

Beeley, who said in a prior interview that part of the reason the June 9 referendum failed is that not enough voters turned out to support school spending, said this week more “people are getting on board now that they’re seeing what we could lose.”

Although nothing will be decided until a final budget is approved, last week the school board discussed various programs that would likely be on the chopping block if the school department were held to the $500,000 reduction set by the Town Council on June 24.

Among the programs that could be cut are eighth-grade sports, which would leave the middle school with no organized, school-sponsored sports program after the seventh-grade sports program was cut in the current budget.

Other programs in jeopardy include the band, chorus, jazz band, Key Club, mock trial, Natural Helpers, the Model UN and the Environmental Club of Scarborough, or ECOS, programs at the high school. In addition, high school sports, including wrestling, fall cheering and tennis, could be eliminated.

At the middle school, other programs that could be cut include the chorus, computer, jazz band, Lego Robotics, theater and yearbook clubs.

At Wentworth School, which houses students in grades 3-5, the students could lose the civil rights team, and the foreign language, technology, photography, Lego Robotics and theater clubs.

And, all of that would be in addition to a $320,000 cost reduction in academic spending, according to Save Scarborough Schools, which it said “are unacceptable” in an online flier that’s being shared around town this week.

The flier adds, “The Scarborough Town Council wants you to believe that this $500,000 (cut) will not impact our students,” and then calls on residents to be “an advocate for the children of Scarborough” by voting no next week.

And, like those still opposing the school budget as too high, Save Scarborough Schools is encouraging people to vote early by absentee ballot. The last day for voting absentee is Thursday, July 2.

Stacey Neumann, a spokeswoman for Save Scarborough Schools, told the Current this week that the group was created last year by “concerned residents who want to maintain and improve our school system.”

She said the goal of the organization is to “help spread truthful information on the budget and on individuals running for leadership positions in the town as to their positions on the school budget.”

She added, “We continue to advocate for the proper funding of our schools as we believe that is essential not only to our children’s education, but our community as a whole. This includes property valuation – which is directly related to the quality of the town school system – and the fabric of the community, as well.”

Neumann said Save Scarborough Schools is advocating for the defeat of the proposed new school budget next week.

“It is too low,” she said. “The proposed budget eliminating $500,000 … will be devastating to the schools.”

She said the hope of her group is that if the school-spending measure is defeated because the majority of voters say it’s too low, that would force the Town Council to put “forward a better-funded budget.”

Overall, Neumann said, “We want people to know that Scarborough administrative costs are $200 per pupil less than the state average. We (also) want people to know that the school increase is due to a reduction of over $1 million in state (funding).”

In a post on the Scarborough Board of Education’s Facebook page late last week, the board argued that after seven hours of deliberation, there is “nothing left to cut from the classroom.”

The post also said, “Our teachers are paid less than their counterparts in most of Maine. Our per pupil administrative costs put Scarborough near the very bottom in the state. The only thing left to cut are programs that will have a direct impact on students.”

Beeley told the Current Monday that the $500,000 reduction in school spending mandated by the Town Council “puts us way behind” and said that the “loss of sports activities is huge, especially at the middle school.”

She said that cutting “eighth-grade sports is unprecedented (and) it will be a very sad thing for our town and schools.” Beeley also said following the board discussion about what could be eliminated, she has received numerous emails from people “very concerned about what could be cut.”

But these concerns don’t convince those in town who are still opposing school spending as taking too much of a toll on taxpayers.

Bob Rovner, a founding member of the group Scarborough Maine Advocates for Reasonable Taxes, or SMART, said that he plans to vote no on the school budget next week.

“As an individual citizen and taxpayer in Scarborough,” he said, “the most important thing is make sure that there is a balance between both sides of the budget. The municipal side seems to have done that, but the school side has not.”

Rovner also told the Current that the town “should be looking not to exceed a 3 percent increase overall, but certainly nothing that exceeds 4 percent. If this means that this second vote needs to be rejected in order to have a third vote that would reach this limited level of increase, then I would be in favor of that.”

Annalee Rosenblatt, another member of the tax group, posted a message on the SMART website Monday telling residents, “Don’t let the scare tactics used by the school board fool you. It is all about priorities (and) the school board does not have its priorities straight.”

Also this week, Steve Hanly, a columnist with the Current who also writes the blog, “Look Out Scarborough,” said he would be voting against the revised school budget for two reasons.

“First, it’s still too high. The second reason is that the school board refuses to deal realistically with the financial realities they are facing. I have attended numerous meetings of the school board’s Finance Committee and have been highly disappointed by their unwillingness to undertake meaningful reviews of most areas of the school budget,” he said.

But Superintendent George Entwistle said in a letter to the community that it would not be possible for the schools to reduce the budget by $500,000 “without impacting existing services and programs for students.”

His letter, which was posted to the school department website on June 23, goes on to state that, “While we will protect academic resources that are essential to our core mission of delivering quality K-12 teaching and learning for the children of our community, we will, at the same time, be forced to eliminate other valuable activities and services.”