FOSTER — The School Committee this week presented the first version of a new policy that would allow out-of-district students admission to Capt. Isaac Paine Elementary School on a tuition basis.

The policy gives discretionary power to Supt. Robert Wallace, to grant or deny admission of a student based on space availability, the student’s disciplinary record, and “whether the superintendent believes that the student will benefit from admittance.”

According to the proposed policy, the superintendent is not permitted to admit a student “whose attendance would result in the creation of any new program, employment position or cost to the district.”

Currently, non-resident children are allowed to attend Paine only when participating in committee-approved foreign exchange, special education, or summer or evening programs.

Also, those students whose families are in the process of changing their residence into or out of town are allowed to remain at the school for a period of time. An amendment to the district’s current policy on non-resent students, if approved, would permit tuition students as well.

Final approval of the new policy and the amended policy, as well as the actual cost of tuition, will follow at the committee’s next meeting next month, according to committee member Michael S. Paolucci, who first proposed the idea.

The committee began considering the plan at the start of the New Year as a way of bringing added revenue to offset rising costs. Overall, classes are under-subscribed at Paine, and the committee determined that adding even a dozen students a year would not be a burden to the system. The school, which has the capacity for about 400 students, has 278 students this year.

The committee is considering charging tuition of $4,500 to $5,500 a year. Paolucci says the median tuition for area private schools is $5,400, so Paine’s cost would be “competitive.”

Under the proposed policy, accepted out-of-district students would sign an enrollment agreement developed by the superintendent. The student would agree not to ask the town for transportation costs to and from the school.

And if at any time the student is found not adhering to the agreement, he or she can be involuntarily dismissed by the superintendent, with either all or none of the tuition — paid at the start of the school year — refunded.

Paolucci says the school, which was classified as high-performing in 2007 by the state Department of Education, could expect to attract students from neighboring Scituate or from across the state line in Killingly, Conn.

He hopes the plan, if successful next year, would be extended to the Foster-Glocester Regional School District schools.

pmarcelo@projo.com