BANGOR – Superintendent Robert Ervin, painting a bleak picture of what would happen if voters approved a tax cap proposal in November, said Monday that the Palesky initiative would “end public education as we know it.”

Emphasizing to the school committee that his comments should not be “interpreted as hyperbole or scare tactics,” Ervin said that a positive vote for the tax cap would result in, among other things:

. Job loss for a minimum of 120 part- and full-time employees, including many teachers;

. Elimination of all extracurricular activities, including athletics; and

. Cutbacks to special education, vocational education, transportation for students in grades four-12 and food services subsidies.

The initiative would cap property taxes at $10 per $1,000 of assessed value, based on values in 1996-97, and limit assessment increases to 2 percent yearly while property ownership remains in a family.

Ervin, who said he wanted to make sure the community understood the impact of the tax cap proposal to be voted on Nov. 2, said other repercussions would include the reduction of tuition rates to Bangor High School, cutbacks to federal contributions for special education, and the elimination of alternative education and summer programs.

In the current scenario presented by the city, the school department would lose $10.5 million of its $34.7 million budget, or 30 percent, said Ervin, who based his calculations on 2003 property valuations.

Also at the meeting, the school committee voted unanimously to pass a resolution opposing the tax cap initiative and to send a letter to City Manager Ed Barrett and Bangor city councilors urging them to fully fund the city’s local education commitment so the school department doesn’t lose $2 million in state aid.

If the initiative passes, “the challenges we see every day will double and triple. Parents will not understand why their child cannot have certain activities, services or accommodations. Worse, some will likely seek litigation,” Ervin said.

Reached Monday night, Jen Webber, a spokeswoman for Tax Cap YES!, said opponents “are looking at how to defeat the property tax cap which is a citizen initiated referenda, instead of looking for innovative ways to reduce the tax burden or reduce our standing as a state with the highest property taxes in the country.”

Also during the meeting, school committee members said Bangor as well as the state would suffer economically if the tax cap passed. They said they were concerned about losing subjects such as art and music and that busing cuts could result in some parents having problems transporting their children to school. The elimination of extracurricular activities will mean that “thousands of kids will have nothing to do after school,” said Phyllis Guerette.

Teachers said after the meeting the loss of resources would prevent them from providing the same quality instructional program.

“I can’t do the same for 30 kids as I can for 20,” said Isabel Coopersmith, a kindergarten teacher at Fourteenth Street School in Bangor.

School committee chairwoman Martha Newman pointed out that 96 percent of Bangor High School graduates went on to post-secondary school this year, compared with the state average of 57 percent.

“Bangor has a lot to protect,” she said. Tax reform is needed, but the problem isn’t on the local level, it’s in Augusta.