FAYETTE — Residents voted 206-80 on Tuesday to have the School Committee prepare a plan of withdrawal from the school system that includes Winthrop.

Once developed, the withdrawal plan would be considered by the Alternative Organizational Structure 97 school board, the Maine commissioner of education and Fayette residents. If approved, it would allow withdrawal by the Fayette School Department from the Western Kennebec County Alternative Organizational Structure 97 by June 30, 2014.

Fayette and Winthrop residents voted in 2010 to restructure administration into an AOS.

Tuesday’s approval of the referendum is the first step in the process of returning administrative functions to Fayette.

Prior to July 1, 2010, Fayette functioned as its own municipal school district for 16 years.

According to a subcommittee report that studied the possible Fayette withdrawal, the cost of leaving is unlikely to be more than $4,000 of a total $1.5 million school budget. The panel believes it would be a 0.2 percent increase at most, and the benefits of withdrawal exceed the cost, according to the report.

dperry@sunjournal.com