KINGFIELD — Selectmen agreed Monday night to ask voters if they favor investigating the possibility of withdrawing from Regional School Unit 58 and raising $20,000 to pay for it.

The district also includes Avon, Phillips and Strong. Stratton withdrew from the district in 2013.

The Kingfield Independent School Committee formed two years ago to learn about the steps necessary to leave the district. The committee presented selectmen with a petition signed by 64 voters asking the town to consider that option.

The Maine Department of Education requires a 22-step process, Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Heather Moody said. Townspeople are not committed to withdrawal, Moody stressed, even if they approve selectmen starting the work.

“This money is ‘put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is,'” Moody said.

First, selectmen will schedule a special town meeting to ask permission to investigate the process. Selectmen also must determine a rough estimate of costs to go through those steps.

Eustis started with $20,000, Moody noted. Other towns have spent more and less, but circumstances for each of these other towns won’t be the same as Kingfield’s.

Moody said this is the third time in the 15 years she’s been on the board that the topic of withdrawal has been discussed. She suggested that if voters were truly committed to starting the process, whether they ultimately withdrew from the school district, that they should be ready to make the financial commitment.

“This is a statement that we’re serious about this,” Selectman Merv Wilson said.

He said Kingfield spends $11,000 per student, while the next highest valued town pays $6,000 per student, based on property valuation.

“We’ve got 20 percent of the kids and 40 percent of the payments,” Selectman John Dill noted.

Selectmen unanimously agreed to support the initial information-gathering process and to ask voters to commit $20,000 to start the legal process.

Targett will prepare a schedule for a public hearing and the special town meeting.

In other business Monday, selectmen agreed to retain Rodney Lynch as economic development consultant and grant writer. Lynch will apply for grants through the Northern Border Regional Commission.

The 2015 round of grants to selected counties in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York are awarded to encourage economic development and job creation in the northern forest regions. The commission has approximately $4.5 million in federal funding for eligible projects that include development of regional infrastructure, job creation and economic development, sustainable land use and renewable energy sources.

In other matters, Heather Scott and Lauren Tranten have offered to renew the effort to regenerate a Recreation Department for children. The two have organized T-ball teams for 21 children and hope to add activities, including art that could allow children to be part of events such as the First Friday Artwalk.

“For the past three years, I’ve driven out of town to find something for my kids,” Scott said. “There’s nothing here in town for them.”

Androscoggin Bank representatives made a presentation on services they offer.

Targett also reminded selectmen that town reports will not be delivered to residents this year. They may be picked up at the Town Office hopefully on May 28.

Copies also will be available at Tranten’s Market. The annual town meeting will be Saturday, June 6, at Kingfield Elementary School.

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