ARUNDEL — Voters in Arundel have narrowly decided to stay in Regional School Unit 21, by a vote of 1,196 to 1,044, and will continue to share fiscal and administrative resources for education with Kennebunk and Kennebunkport.

The vote caps months of debate, which started in January when volunteer firefighter David Lane helped to spearhead a petition proposing that the town withdraw from RSU 21. The effort kicked off a series of informational meetings, public hearings, a Special Town Meeting to determine whether the town should move forward, and the formation of a withdrawal committee that was tasked with determining Arundel’s best financial interests.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” said Lane on Wednesday morning. “I was confident that the citizens of Arundel wanted to (withdraw), but I was wrong. Such as it is.”

The withdrawal committee had submitted a plan for withdrawal to the commissioner of education earlier this year, which helped the committee determine the costs inherent in operating an Arundel-only school district.

The fiscal particulars were delineated in detail when Chuck Lawton, chief economist for Portland-based Planning Decisions, Inc., went item by item in a packet presented to attendees of three public hearings that were held last month.

At the first public hearing, held Oct. 10 at the Mildred L. Day Elementary School ”“ Arundel’s only school ”“ Lawton deconstructed the current costs of Arundel’s involvement in the RSU over the next fiscal year, and compared those numbers to three hypothetical budgets meant to provide a projection of the costs associated with maintaining Arundel’s current level of education if the town withdrew.

Lawton’s numbers indicated that staying in the RSU would be less costly for the town, since the town enjoys a higher level of Essential Programs and Services funding from the state by its inclusion in the district, as well as the freedom from operating its own administrative services.

Proponents of withdrawal cited a desire for local control as the central component of their position.

On Wednesday morning, when Velma Jones Hayes, chairperson of the Arundel Board of Selectman, said she was informed of the vote, “I just smiled,” she said. “It’s wonderful.

“It was not overwhelming, but it’s a decision that’s been made, and it’s time to move forward and work with it,” said Hayes. “This is a great town, and we can do anything if we stick together.”

— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 319 or jlagasse@journaltribune.com.