Last week when I went to write my column, I had to make a correction. Whoops….the proposed school projects total $55 million not $54 million. Off by one – one million that is. Is it me, or did that number change in the last six months?

Remember when the seniors were asking for a $1.2 million dollar senior center? Voters said that was a lot to ask. Remember when the community was first asked to pull $15 million out of their own pockets to pay for a YMCA with a 50 meter pool? That was a lot to ask. So, they scaled it back and asked individuals and businesses to cough up just $9 million for a YMCA with a 25 meter pool; still too much to ask. How about that $6.5 million dollar library project? That too, was too much to ask.

Somehow, the school project headlines have made a cool $1 million jump in the last six months – and the marketing team continues to press on. In last week’s Current, School board member, Bob Mitchell said “I’m not saying you can’t do (the projects) for $5 million less…you could eliminate the air conditioning, you could shrink the classrooms by 50 feet, but that doesn’t make sense.” Looking at the recent voting record, I’d argue that it makes a lot of sense. It seems that we’re talking millions of dollars, as though we’re talking pennies. Who has all this money to toss around?

It’s just too ironic. With election headlines dominating the newspaper, one headline seems to be lost. It’s a critical headline, and hints to the wave of the future. Tucked back into the papers is the headline for the old Bessey School being converted to affordable senior housing. Note the word: affordable!

In the recent senior survey completed by Critical Insights, seniors overwhelmingly said the tax burden was the worst attribute of living in Scarborough. In light of this concern, doesn’t it make sense to ask seemingly overzealous school board and building committee members to revisit the size, scope, timing, and funding methods of these school projects?

Let Scarborough’s comprehensive plan speaks for itself:

• Wentworth Intermediate enrollment is scheduled to peak at 794 students in year 2007/2008 and then drop down to 745 by 2012/2013. So, why build a school for 1058 students? Will the school be completed in time for peak enrollment year?

• Scarborough’s middle school is scheduled to peak at 850 students in 2010/2011 and then drop down to 784 students by 2012/2013. So, why build a school for 1100 students?

I didn’t support a $1.2 million dollar senior center, and I won’t support the school projects either, for the following reasons: First, for now, the majority of seniors don’t want a center, and second, when they decide that they do, studies indicate there will be plenty of schools available.

A study titled Maine’s Disappearing Youth, cautions that Mainers beware of the Boom Echo. Baby boomers having babies in the 1980s and 90s caused a rebound in birth rates, known as the “echo boom.” This causes temporary crowding in schools. The study cautions that this will pass and Scarborough’s comprehensive plan shows this as well.

The brain drain is real. Local voter approval of this project feeds it. Maine is losing its youth because they cannot afford to live here. Valuable lessons are taught in the school of hard knocks – it just depends on who is willing to learn from it. Our kids can learn that if they suffer five or six more years at Wentworth a new state funded school is on the horizon – costing local taxpayers nothing, or aging parents can learn it later as they pay down the debt for 33 years of a 100 percent town funded project. So I must ask, For those who vote to approve this excessive spending: are you here for the long haul?

One thing is for sure both young and old would like to see a pool in Scarborough. We’re building a pool alright – but it isn’t the pool I had hoped for. We’re building a pool of debt. I don’t know about you – I was hoping to swim, not drown. Scarborough needs to scale back its lofty visions, and consider the needs of the whole community now and in the future. Is this too much to ask?