Applications for the new Scarborough School Building Advisory Committee will become available Sept. 13.

The Town Council and school board finalized the new committee’s charge for Phase 2 of the town’s push for a solution to its overcrowded schools last week.

“The school board is excited to move the process forward to the next stage to arrive at a solution that will work for our kids, our families, our employees and our community,” school board Chair Shannon Lindstrom wrote in an email to the Leader. “We are thrilled to build on the excellent work done in Phase 1 and to move forward toward a November 2025 referendum.”

The new committee will consist of up to 23 members. Up to 13 will be members of the Phase 1 committee, with four of those being part of the school department’s building leadership team. An additional three members will be residents and there will be two Town Council and two school board representatives. Three residents will also be appointed as alternate members. All but the alternates will be the voting members of the committee.

The Phase 2 committee will be tasked with hiring a consultant and vetting four proposed solutions by the Phase 1 committee: a K-3 consolidated school; a fourth primary school; a new school for Grades 2 and 3; and expansions at the town’s three primary schools and Scarborough Middle School.

The committee is expected to provide a final recommendation for a solution by June 30, 2025, in preparation for a referendum that November. Joint workshops will be held for the committee to report on its progress in November of this year, and January, March and May of next year.

The charge also calls for a solution that doesn’t exceed a $130 million cost estimate, derived from a 2024 community-wide survey.

A late addition by the council to the new committee’s responsibilities last week was a requirement to engage school staff throughout the process, specifically principals and teachers.

“We added a little bit of extra process to this by partnering with the school department,” said Councilor April Sither at the Sept. 4 council meeting.

“They felt like at this point, in Phase 2, their expertise will be really necessary,” Lindstrom said at the board’s Sept. 5 meeting. “That’s looking at the educational needs of our students and developing a plan that will best suit those needs.”

Both bodies approved the Phase 2 committee’s charge unanimously.

Information on how to apply will be provided on the town’s website, scarboroughmaine.org, and the school department’s website, scarboroughschools.org.