To the editor:

Saving Excellence in Scarborough Schools invites residents to fill out an online survey to share their vision and their funding priorities for the town at sessscarborough.wikispaces.com.
Scarborough faces the loss of more than $2 million in state education funds during this year and the next. Town councilors and school committee members are now drafting budget proposals and considering what services should be cut.
Instead of waiting and simply reacting to cuts proposed by the School Committee or Town Council, we want residents to share their thoughts about what their priorities are now so they can be considered as our elected officials draft the school and municipal budgets.
SESS, a volunteer organization made up of residents, parents, and teachers who want to protect the quality of Scarborough’s schools, has been advocating for a community-wide dialogue through public hearings and informational meetings to define what Scarborough’s spending priorities should be.
To date, no such meetings have been scheduled, so SESS is promoting the community-wide survey to capture public opinion about what Scarborough’s spending priorities should be. A summary of citizens’ opinions will be released in late February. SESS invites all Scarborough residents to fill out the survey to register their opinions.
The survey asks if residents would support higher property taxes to maintain the current level of municipal services; which municipal services should retain current funding levels; and if residents agree with a property tax increase, how much more they would be willing to pay.
The survey also asks residents to rank revenue-generating ideas, such as pay-to-play school sports and raising business and other permit fees. Residents also are asked to share their ideas for maintaining, expanding or reducing all municipal services.
Other towns have held community-wide meetings to determine what their guiding principles should be at a time when they are losing millions in tax revenues. Unfortunately, Scarborough hasn’t held a similar soul-searching forum, so we hope this survey provides an opportunity for everyone to register an opinion and share their vision of what kind of town we should be.

Christine Kukka
Saving Excellence in Scarborough Schools