WAYNE – The town could undertake a marketing effort to recruit young families with school-age children to move into town.

Or, school officials could rent out a wing of Wayne Elementary School for retail space, government use or elder care.

Wayne School Committee members are in the midst of a brainstorming wave.

Their aim? Funnel enough revenue to Wayne Elementary School so it remains financially feasible to stay open.

The storm of ideas comes as the elementary school, which serves students in kindergarten through grade five, expects a pattern of continued declines in enrollment to continue.

The current 60-student population is down from 80 students a year ago. A Head Start preschool program housed at the school closed in June, accounting for much of the decline.

Next fall, the population is likely to drop to 46 students, as an 18-student fifth-grade class moves on to Maranacook Community Middle School and a tiny kindergarten class takes its place.

The following year, in 2010, Principal Cheryl Hasenfus projects an even smaller kindergarten class, with a total school enrollment of 41 students.

“The (Wayne) School Committee has taken a pretty clear stand that they want this to continue to function as a school even when we have 40-plus kids,” Hasenfus said.

As student numbers fall, however, funding shrivels up because the state largely bases its subsidy to local school districts on student numbers.

At the same time, costs do not necessarily fall with fewer students.

School officials say they must maintain the same facility and cannot cut staffing levels if the enrollment drop is not steep enough.

In the spring, Lew Collins, assistant superintendent and special education director for the Maranacook-area school district, began laying the groundwork for locating a regional center for children with autism at Wayne Elementary School.

The center would serve students from area school districts that currently pay to send students with certain special needs to private programs in Auburn, Bath and elsewhere.

“They have a marvelous facility and some great kids and staff there that would be wonderful for mainstreaming opportunities,” Collins said in May.

The regional center would also bring public tuition dollars from area school districts to Wayne Elementary School.

The specialized center would move into the space left vacant by the Head Start program’s closure, Hasenfus said.

“That made this space available,” she said of the program’s departure. “That’s what started the conversation.”

Collins said he is surveying special-education directors in the Augusta area to gauge interest in a local facility for special-needs students.

At a meeting in early October, School Committee members discussed a range of other options to use extra Wayne Elementary School space and ways to ensure a steady stream of students for the school.

Establishing the regional special needs center quickly rose to the top of the list of preferred options.

“One of our top choices is educational uses,” Wayne School Committee member Holly Stevenson said.

Committee members also considered using the space as a satellite center for university classes, an adult education center or vocational skills center.

They discussed working with town officials to market Wayne to young families. Members weighed working with the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce to promote the elementary school space among retailers.

“We’re really hoping to have the town embrace the vision … actively trying to bring young families into town,” Stevenson said.

Families could be attracted, she said, if they “feel secure if they move here, their kids would have a school that’s not going to close.”