Anyone who has spent time in Lewiston’s Farwell Elementary School recently knows that the 51-year-old facility is showing its age.

Classrooms are crowded and in disrepair, equipment overflows from tiny offices into hallways that should be open to the flow of children and teachers, too many students must get their education in portable classrooms that periodically suffer from backed-up plumbing, and tar leaks through the roof onto students in the multi-purpose room that must serve not only as lunchroom but also as gym and auditorium.

In short, Farwell School is no longer adequate or safe to meet the educational needs of this community’s children.

Fortunately, voters at a special referendum on Dec. 7 will have the opportunity to replace this tired, aging school with a new facility – and at surprisingly little cost to the city of Lewiston.

Specifically, voters will be asked to approve two questions. Approving Question 1 means that for a local cost of only $33,500, Lewiston can build a new school on the present site adequate to the educational needs of students for the next 50 years.

Approving Question 2 means we can include an enlarged gymnasium as part of the project for an additional cost of $566,187 (paid over 20 years), a cost-effective enhancement that will serve community as well as school needs.

In either case, thanks to a new state funding formula, the costs to Lewiston for building this school will be virtually negligible. Most persuasive of all, these costs are far less than the $3.2 million the city estimates it would have to spend just to keep the present building operational and up to code if voters do not approve the project.

That’s right, for a fraction of the cost of laboriously trying to repair what we have, Lewiston can have a brand new school, its first in more than 30 years.

What will we get in a newborn Farwell School? The energy-efficient building will have two classrooms for each grade, plus the capacity to house full-day kindergarten and a program for four-year-olds. Its classrooms will be well lit and no longer undersized according to state educational standards. It will feature a library-media center with a computer lab, a cafeteria and a gymnasium that will share a stage between them, and spaces for such things as special education programs, art, music, and small-scale instruction. The layout will maximize the learning potential for all students and provide the storage so badly needed by school staff.

In short, the new school will utilize the current site more efficiently and safely than the present building. In addition, thanks to the participation of neighbors in a careful, two-year development and design process, the new Farwell School will continue the tradition of its predecessor in helping to maintain and strengthen the Farwell School neighborhood.

Having co-chaired over these past two years the Lewiston District Building Committee charged with working hard to plan the future of Farwell School, we know that Lewiston needs a school that can take us into the future. We also know that the current Farwell School facility cannot accomplish this task. Moreover, if voters do not approve the new Farwell project, state funds will be awarded to another community identified as in need, and Lewiston will lose its opportunity for a new Farwell school.

On behalf of our fellow Building Committee members, as well as the teachers, children, families and neighbors of Farwell School, we ask Lewiston voters to approve both questions on Dec. 7. Let’s build the school we need for our community.

Jan Phillips and John Butler are co-chairs of the District Building Committee for the Farwell School project. Both live in Lewiston.