Residents of Casco and Naples voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to close Crooked River Elementary in Casco and send the students to Songo Locks Elementary in Naples, which will now be the K-5 school for both communities.

Voters in School Administrative District 61, which includes Bridgton and Sebago, also validated the district’s $25.7 million budget by a count of 436-229. The spending plan had been approved last week at the district budget meeting.

The vote on Crooked River Elementary, which will now be turned into office space for special education and adult education, was not close in either Casco (83-45) or Naples (187-117). If the plan had been rejected, the towns would have had to pick up the roughly $315,000 per year saved by closing the school.

Naples and Casco students now attend Songo Locks Elementary for grades K-3, then move to Crooked River for grades 4-5. Starting next year, all students in grades K-5 will go to Songo Locks. Keeping them together at one school will benefit the students by giving them stability and comfort while helping them build relationships, said David Norton of Casco.

“A K-5 school is better for a child than being moved every few years,” he said.

But one voter, Bill Strout of Casco, said he was against closing the school because he thinks the district rushed the decision and doesn’t have a solid plan for using the building after it’s closed.

“I don’t think it’s been thought out. I feel like it’s been crammed down our throat,” said Strout.

Another voter, Eric Hills of Casco, said he was fine with closing the school, but wondered about the wisdom of keeping it open as office space.

“I don’t know how they are going to save money,” he said.

Closing the school is part of the district’s 10-year facilities plan, Superintendent Patrick Phillips said. In exchange for being allowed by the state to avoid consolidation with other districts, officials set out to decide how to use their facilities in a more efficient manner.

To that end, Phillips said, Casco Memorial School was returned to the town last year, and the district is in discussions to do the same with Bridgton Memorial School. By closing the three schools and moving all sixth-grade students to Lake Region Middle School, the district would save around $600,000 a year in operation and maintenance costs.

The savings would be used to reduce the budget and to pay for needed improvements to Lake Region High School and the vocational center, the superintendent said.