YORK COUNTY — School departments in Saco and Old Orchard Beach are hoping to get state funding for long-discussed school facility projects.

In the fall, the Mane Department of Education announced it was accepting applications for state funding for major capital school construction projects. The state periodically accepts applications for state funding, and the last application cycle was in 2011.

Applications will be reviewed by state officials and a prioritized list of recommended projects will be published in 2018.

According to information posted on the Maine Department of Education website, the application is “needs-based” and school departments do not need to submit any costs, designs or proposed solutions in the application. School departments should identify the school or schools that are in need of major renovation or replacement and submit an application for each one.

The deadline for school departments to submit applications is Friday. Boards in both Saco and Regional School Unit 23, which covers Old Orchard Beach, approved applications and had arranged for them to be hand delivered to the state today.

The news of acceptance of new applications for state funding came just before the Saco City Council was scheduled to vote to put a question on the November 2016 ballot to ask residents whether to approve a $21.5 million school construction bond to build a new Young School and make renovations at Gov. Fairfield School.

The council voted to rescind the ballot question in favor of pursuing state funding.

Young School in Saco, which serves students from kindergarten through second grade, is a modular building constructed in 2004 as a temporary replacement when the previous building was torn down due to mold issues. The single-story building is nearly 28,000 square feet.

A 2013 school building assessment report stated Young School was in need of new flooring in bathrooms, new down spouts and sprinkler system, renovations to the exhaust and cooling system, new lighting, new phone system and upgrades to the fire alarm system.

In Old Orchard Beach, RSU 23 officials have for the past few years talked about the future facility needs of the School Department.

RSU 23 school officials have discussed several options, ranging from renovating the district’s three buildings, to consolidating pre-kindergarten through eighth grades in one new building and renovating the high school, building two new facilities — one to house pre-kindergarten through eighth grades and one for a new high school — or building one new building for all levels from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grades.

According to a facilities and planning study by RSU 23 officials, Jameson School, which is used for pre-kindergarten through second grade, has more than $1.7 million in deferred maintenance and upgrades. Jameson School, which is about 33,000 square feet, opened in 1954, with additions added in 1978, 1989 and 2000.

According to the study, Loranger Memorial School, which serves students in grades three through eight also has about $1.8 million in deferred maintenance and needed upgrades. Loranger Memorial School is nearly 78,000 square feet. It opened in 1936, with additions added in 1967 and 2000.

Old Orchard Beach High School opened in 1980 and is nearly 67,000 square feet. According to the study, it has about $1.5 million in deferred maintenance and upgrades,

According to the study, needs for the three Old Orchard Beach schools include new windows, roofing, sprinkler systems, heating systems, and fire alarm systems.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].