LEWISTON – After years of planning and project work by school officials, voters will decide the fate of Farwell Elementary School Tuesday.

The two-question referendum will ask voter approval to raze the school on Farwell Street and replace it with a new building. Voting will take place at the Multi-Purpose Center. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Farwell Elementary is 50 years old, overcrowded and in need of repair. The roof leaks and the school’s heating, plumbing and electrical systems need to be replaced. TVs, printers and photocopiers line the hallway because staff have no other place to put them. The building has too little classroom and kitchen space, and there are only two bathrooms for the 320 students in kindergarten through grade six.

In 2002, the Maine Department of Education named the school the 10th neediest in Maine. The state agreed to help pay for a new school.

Tuesday’s first referendum question will ask voters for approval to demolish Farwell and replace it with a $10.7 million building on the same site. The new school would be set on 4.8 acres and would accommodate 425 students.

A second question would allow voters to add a $566,000 middle school-sized gym to the project.

Under the state’s new funding formula, the state would pay for nearly the entire project, according to Superintendent Leon Levesque. The city would likely pay $33,500 over 20 years. If voters approve the gym, Lewiston would pay an additional $566,000.

A copy of the sample ballot with the two referendum questions is available at the city clerk’s office and on the city’s Web site. Absentee ballots are also available.

Because this is a special election, voting will take place only at the Multi-Purpose Center. Residents of all wards must vote there.