FAYETTE — A public hearing will be held Monday, Oct. 21, to discuss a referendum on whether townspeople want the School Committee to develop a plan to withdraw from the school unit known as AOS 97.

Fayette and Winthrop voters in 2010 agreed to restructure school administration into an alternate organizational structure.

The public hearing will be at 7 p.m. at Fayette Central School on Route 17 in Fayette. The ballot question will appear in referendum form on Nov. 5.

Approval of the referendum question would be the first step in returning administrative functions to local control, according to information posted on www.fayettemaine.org.

Fayette and Winthrop formed the AOS on July 1, 2010. Prior to that, Fayette functioned on its own as a municipal school district for 16 years.

According to a subcommittee report that studied withdrawal, the cost is unlikely to be more than $4,000 of a $1.5 million school budget. The panel believes it would be a 0.2 percent spending increase, at most.

dperry@sunjournal.com