Do you remember being 5 years old? You may remember riding your bike or going to the beach. You may not remember how good you were at learning. I know a 5-year-old that could probably beat you at cribbage. I know another 5-year-old who has memorized every country, capital, and flag in the world. Five-year-olds are not babies. They are not toddlers. They are children with an incredible ability to learn and they should be in school. Right now, if a 5-year-old is born shortly after Oct. 15 in Scarborough they will spend nearly their entire year as a 5-year-old out of school.

In 2023, Maine passed L.D. 1799, which reads, “It is the goal of the State to establish an equitable, mixed-delivery public preschool system that provides universal access for preschool-aged children and their families … (with) 100% (access) by the 2026-2027 school year.” Right now, there are 48 school administrative units in Maine that provide five-days-a-week, full-day pre-K to all interested 4- and 5-year-olds. This includes Old Orchard Beach (RSU 23) and Kennebunk (RSU 21) where interest has been strong – the pre-K classes are about 80% of the size of the kindergarten classes. Saco voters recently approved a bond to build a dedicated preK-kindergarten building. Any parent that has tried to find a private pre-K option in the area can explain the odyssey of navigating years-long waitlists and commutes to Saco, Westbrook, and Portland.

Scarborough’s Town Council and Board of Education has charged the citizen-led School Building Advisory Committee to create a recommendation for the future buildings for the school district. As a member of the SBAC Phase 1 and 2, I think we have done incredible work understanding why the 2023 referendum failed and generating options for a stronger proposal in 2025. Although this charge included a space needs analysis, the Board of Education has prohibited the SBAC from contemplating space for pre-K in the building options – even for assessing support for pre-K in the upcoming building survey. I think this is a mistake.

It takes around three years to build a school and the building may last for 50-plus years. Does anyone doubt that pre-K will become standard in Maine over this time? This means Scarborough will either become one of the few districts in the area not offering pre-K, undoubtedly impairing our property values, or the town will have to come back to voters with another bond request – which will be more expensive and inconvenient because it won’t be integrated with the existing buildings.

Please write to the Town Council (towncouncil@scarboroughmaine.org) and Board of Education (boe@scarboroughschools.org) to consider space for pre-K as part of the future building options. Please also plan to attend the Board of Education workshop on pre-K on Feb. 27.

James Cronican is an at-large member of the Scarborough Schools Building Committee. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Building Committee.