AUBURN — The Auburn School Committee voted Wednesday night to create a new nonprofit foundation that will allow fundraising for educational projects outside the realm of the Auburn School Department.

It could, for instance, raise money for scholarships for a particular project not covered by the school budget, or raise funds for a new Edward Little High School should Auburn not be successful in getting state construction money next year.

The Auburn Educational Foundation will file for its 501(c)(3) status, which means contributions by individuals or organizations would be tax deductible.

The foundation will not be run by the School Department or School Committee, but by a separate board of directors of between five to 10 people. However board members will be appointed by the School Committee.

Other school systems have similar foundations, including Lewiston. The Lewiston Education Fund raises money for scholarships and school programs not covered by the school budget.

“Farmington created a foundation in April to raise money for a new high school,” said Auburn School Department Business Manager Jude Cyr, who is filing the paperwork for the foundation.

Cyr said in recent years he’s been approached by a number of people who wanted to donate to Auburn schools, but wanted to donate to a nonprofit organization for tax purposes.

School Committee Chairman David Das called the foundation a way for the community to buy into education for scholarships or projects. The board will be a separate group “which will decide if a project is worthy of following up with extra money, whether it’s a construction project or more curriculum-based for students.”

School Committee member Bonnie Hayes said the foundation is a good idea. “So if my husband’s Class of 1965 has their reunion and wants to do something, this is something they can donate to if they chose,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a good thing.”

In other business, Superintendent Tom Morrill said recent kindergarten registration shows too many students at the East Auburn Community School. A total of 35 children were registered for kindergarten, and that school has one kindergarten class.

The School Department contacted parents of 13 of those children and told them there isn’t room at East Auburn, and that their child would have to attend Washburn or Fairview. Those two schools will have smaller kindergarten classes.

Kindergarten students who have siblings already at East Auburn were given priority and will attend that school, Assistant Superintendent Katy Grondin said. Families who lived closer to Washburn or Fairview were told or asked to attend those schools. Most families were understanding, but a few were not. That is understandable, she said, since at registration, parents had already met who they thought would be their child’s teacher, Grondin said.

The size of kindergarten classes this fall at other schools will be, Park Avenue, 17; Fairview, 17; Sherwood Heights, 21; Washburn, 15; Walton, 20.

In the first full year of a 10-year contract with energy company Siemens, energy efficiency projects are paying for themselves with reduced consumption of energy, Das reported.

In 2007 the School Department entered a contract in which a number of energy efficient projects, including new boilers, windows and lighting, were installed. Those improvements were to be paid for in 10 years from money in the budget that would have been spent on either oil or electricity.

In the first full year of the 10-year contract, energy savings were projected to be $149,000, but came in at $167,000. Das called the projects “low hanging” fruit of saving money and using less oil and electricity.

Committee members thanked three outgoing student representatives, Emily Dumont, Hanna Mogensen and Mikael Heikkinen, and welcomed three new student representatives, Connor Dumont, Frankie Lally and Alia Abdulahi.