For those who have been intimately involved in designing the expansion project for both Saccarappa Elementary and Westbrook Middle schools, about two years’ worth of work will be reduced to a yes or no vote on Election Day.

The $27.3 million project on Westbrook’s local ballot would add 12 classrooms at each school, as well as amenities such as a gym, cafeteria and library at Saccarappa.

Despite what school officials and supporters say is a vital project to update Saccarappa and address districtwide overcrowding, there’s a growing concern that the anger about Westbrook’s housing development boom, as well as resentment from the closing of an elementary school in 2012, will combine to sink the ballot question.

“I’m rather worried about the school expansion vote. There is a lot of misinformation out there,” said School Committee member Veronica Bates on Tuesday, referring to the community discussion on the ballot measure.

The last in the department’s informational meetings on the proposal is this Saturday, Nov. 5, at Saccarappa Elementary School, from 10-11 a.m. Residents can learn more about next Tuesday’s vote and tour the school.

Bates co-chaired the school building committee, which has spent more than a year developing the project. She said during the last few weeks, rumors have circulated in the community and on social media about its impact on property taxes and about potential alternatives that the school department may have overlooked. Bates said the committee studied all the options and more.

According to City Administrator Jerre Bryant, as well as an informational presentation put together by school officials, the bond would add 40 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to the local property tax rate in 2017, and an additional 40 cents in 2018.

The potential tax increase has some people trying to think of creative ways to address overcrowding without spending millions on construction.

James Tranchemontagne is the only mayoral candidate of four not to support the expansion project. He’s presented alternatives, such as using the Westbrook Community Center or vacant buildings such as One Riverfront Plaza or Legacy Publishing, and has railed against the project’s impact on the local property tax.

School officials say many of those ideas had been looked at, and due to costs or other issues, couldn’t be supported.

Other mayoral candidates who support the project say many seniors have told them they will be voting against it. The City Council unanimously approved sending the project to voters in late August.

Councilor Michael Foley, who supports the bond, said Tuesday that the Westbrook community has historically supported school projects, and that he believes there is enough support for it to pass.

“I would encourage people to support it,” he said, adding that upgrades to Saccarappa have been needed regardless of separate issues in the district.

In 2012, facing a budget shortfall, stagnant enrollment numbers and a high renovation pricetag for Prides Corner Elementary School, the department decided to close the school and realign the district, moving fifth-graders to the middle school and making the three remaining elementary schools a K-4 format.

The property was sold shortly after, and a condominium development has been constructed. However, because of significant enrollment increases in the subsequent years, the school department added portable classrooms at each of its elementary schools, starting with Saccarappa.

Between the 2009 and 2015 school years, the district’s English Language Learner population grew from 94 to 326. ELL classrooms, as well as special education and Title 1 classrooms, typically have smaller class sizes.

Westbrook resident Tony Bessey, who has two sons in the school system, recently raised questions about the project on social media and proposed an alternative option, which was also discussed by WLOB radio host Ray Richardson last week.

His question for school officials is: Why not move some middle-schoolers to the high school, which has capacity? Bessey, whose sons are both at Westbrook Middle School, said Wednesday that he originally supported the expansion project, but second-guessed his support following the City Council’s moratorium discussion last week.

“It really gave me pause, when some of the project’s biggest proponents said they don’t know if this (expansion) is going to fix it,” he said. “I’m not against it, but I struggle with it.”

Bessey said he’s still undecided on how he will vote, but said he wanted to show the community that there are options if the vote fails.

The project will be entirely funded by local taxpayers, most likely bonded for 20 years.

Peter Lancia, the Westbrook superintendent of schools, who was in on the 2012 Prides Corner school decision, said Tuesday that he’s also been hearing both sides of the community discussion, but hopes that residents will end up supporting the vote.

“One of the things I’ve been hearing is that its a pretty high pricetag for just 12 classrooms,” he said. “But it’s more than that – it’s a major expansion.”

The project is designed to make Saccarappa “equitable” with the other schools. Currently, many students there eat lunch in classrooms, the library is in a portable outside the school, and students are bused to physical education at Congin or Canal schools. The project will also add new outdoor playing fields at Saccarappa.

The department has argued that by adding 12 classrooms at Saccarappa, it will eliminate the district’s use of portable classrooms. Both Saccarappa and Canal schools are home to two portable classrooms, while Congin Elementary has one. School officials say no matter how the expansion vote turns out next week, there will be more portables next year.

School Committee Chairman Jim Violette said that as of now, the only “Plan B,” if the vote fails, is to add more portables.

Lancia said the school department had discussed moving middle school students into the high school, but believes their current grade 5-8 system is working well.

Recent population studies completed by Portland-based Planning Decisions have said the school district could grow by 331 students by 2025, roughly the size of one of the department’s elementary schools. That study led the school building committee to increase the scope of the project to include 12 new classrooms at the middle school instead of six.

Once the project is complete, the tentative plan by the school department is to move four classrooms from Canal and three classrooms from Congin – or about 140 students – to Saccarappa.

The middle school is more than 100 students over capacity. Foreign language teachers lack designated classrooms, and spaces designed for specialty instruction like STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) have been made into regular classrooms.

“We need to make sure the kids have the right kind of building to learn in, the right kind of spaces like a library and gymnasium,” Lancia said. “I want people to know that we’re responding to the growth in our community, which we see as a good thing.”

Lancia said he hopes that undecided voters take the time to visit the school department’s website to find out more about the project.

“We just want them to get the information to make an informed decision when they get to the polls,” he said.

If approved, construction would most likely begin next summer, with a tentative completion timeline leading up to or during the 2019-20 school year.

Voters in Westbrook will decide on the $27.3 million school expansion bond on Tuesday, Nov. 8. For more information on the project, go to westbrookschools.org. For more information on the local election, go to westbrookmaine.com.

A portable classroom lies just beyond a fenced play area at Saccarappa Elementary School this week. Both Saccarappa and Canal schools are home to two portable classrooms each, while Congin Elementary has one. School officials say no matter how the expansion vote turns out next week, there will be more portables next year.