Dayton on Tuesday became the second community within the past month to withdraw from Regional School Union 23, leaving Old Orchard Beach as the only town in the York County school district.

The final vote in support of withdrawal was 733-18, according to Gary Curtis, chairman of the RSU 23 board of directors.

The only other school union member, the city of Saco, voted two weeks ago to withdraw from RSU 23 by an overwhelming 2,996-to-977 vote.

Dayton’s decision means that the school union, which began its first year of operation in 2008, will begin to dissolve. Though it will remain in operation for the remainder of the current school year, the three communities will begin to hire personnel and form their own governing boards.

Curtis said he was not surprised by the Dayton vote.

“I am disappointed. I still think the regional school union is a great philosophy to follow. I just think the partners have to be chosen more carefully,” he said after learning of the final tally.

The breakup of RSU 23 is part of a statewide trend of communities voting to pull out of consolidated districts to restore local control over education policies and spending decisions.

RSU 23 was created after the passage of a 2007 state law that was intended to cut administrative costs by merging the state’s 290 school districts into 80 regional units. Many communities combined school operations to avoid threatened penalties, but the penalties were later repealed and communities unhappy with the costs and loss of local control began looking at withdrawing.

Several months ago, Saco and Dayton developed withdrawal plans. Those plans, which detailed how the school union would distribute assets such as computers, buses and properties, were approved by the state commissioner of education in September.

Dayton’s Board of Selectmen came out in support of withdrawal, urging voters in a message posted on the town’s website to back withdrawal.

Dayton needed a minimum of 452 registered voters to cast ballots in order for the election to be valid. It far exceeded that number with 751 people casting votes. There were no other questions on Tuesday’s ballot.

Saco must choose its own school superintendent. The city has scheduled a special election for Dec. 10, when voters will be asked to elect a new school board.

Curtis suspected that Dayton would support withdrawal, so as a courtesy he made a presentation to the Old Orchard Beach Town Council at its meeting Tuesday night.

He announced that Loranger Middle School Principal Lloyd Crocker has been chosen to serve as RSU 23’s interim superintendent next year. Crocker will replace RSU 23 Superintendent Patrick Phillips, who submitted his letter of resignation earlier this month. Phillips has agreed to work through June 30.

Loranger Middle School is located in Old Orchard Beach.

Curtis said the choice of Crocker was made after receiving input from Phillips, the teacher’s union and Jerry Plante, the only other Old Orchard Beach resident who serves on RSU 23’s board of directors.

“It was felt that someone within the current system would provide the needed historic context of where we are, and where we hope to go, and would give a comfort level to the support and classroom staffs in Old Orchard Beach that will make the transition to a single community RSU easier,” Curtis said in prepared remarks to the Town Council.

Curtis said Old Orchard Beach will remain in RSU 23, becoming just one of two single-entity regional school units in Maine.

The withdrawal of Saco and Dayton won’t become effective until July 1.

Curtis said Saco and Dayton students who are enrolled at any Old Orchard Beach school are grandfathered and will be able to complete their education in Old Orchard Beach if they choose to.

But Curtis said he expects that most high school-age students from Dayton will enroll at Thornton Academy in Saco.

Prior to consolidation, Saco and Dayton were the only members of School Union 7. Dayton operates one school, the Dayton Consolidated School, which educates students in grades K-5.

Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com