SUMNER — Following in Buckfield’s footsteps, a group of Sumner residents is circulating a petition to withdraw from RSU 10.

Lana Pratt, a retired educator and Sumner resident, said she and other residents have gathered about 30 signatures and she knows of about 20 more people interested in signing. If the petition gets enough signatures, it will go to a town vote.

At Tuesday’s meeting of Sumner selectmen, RSU 10 Superintendent Tom Ward said he understood concerns about rising costs and asked principals and administrators for no increases in their budgets, although some increases are built in and unavoidable.

Ward said there’s a huge savings in staying in the 12-town district, which also includes Buckfield, Hartford, Mexico, Rumford, Canton, Dixfield, Carthage, Hanover, Peru, Roxbury and Byron.

He said that since consolidation of SADs 39 in Buckfield, SAD 43 in Rumford and SAD 21 in Dixfield, the district has consolidated three central offices into one and found efficiencies by not filling 60 positions. He said there has been $2.6 million saved over four years. Bulk purchases of heating fuel has also saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said.

He said several teachers are retiring soon, which will bring further savings for the district. Ward called RSU 10 “a model district for the state.”

Asked by Sumner selectmen if the 2013-14 budget will go up, he said it’s dependent on whether a proposed cut to revenue sharing is enacted.

Addressing a movement for Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner to withdraw from the district and and reform SAD 39, Ward said current law would require the towns to form individual school districts, with their own administration and transportation, before consolidating into a district.

Pratt said later that she understands there is a complex process, but she said it’s worth it.

“If it happens, it’s not going to happen overnight,” she said. She said it could take a couple of years.

Pratt disagreed with Ward’s opinion that the district is a state model. She said it spends far more per student than SAD 17 in the Oxford Hills region.

“Education has not improved, and costs have gone up” since the 2009 consolidation, she said.

Jeff Pfeifer of Sumner said he’s concerned that RSU 10 is shrinking, and that if a high school is shut down, Buckfield Junior-Senior High School would be targeted rather than the two schools with more representation on the school board. Sumner and Buckfield students, he said, would have to be bused to Rumford.

The Buckfield withdrawal group is holding a public hearing at 6 p.m. April 9 at the Buckfield Town Office. Sumner and Hartford residents are invited to attend.

treaves@sunjournal.com

Note: A previous version of this story gave incorrect figures for money saved by the school district and an incorrect date for the Buckfield public hearing. The errors have been corrected.