BIDDEFORD — On Tuesday, a move in the Legislature to allow superintendents to live in a town outside of the school district in which they serve, regardless of city charter provisions to the contrary, failed.

Now, it’s unclear what will happen regarding Biddeford’s Superintendent of Schools Jeremy Ray.

House members sustained Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of the bill that would have allowed school boards to determine whether superintendents must reside in their school district, regardless of the mandates of their municipal charter.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed,” said Ray, who previously declined to comment on the issue until it played out in Augusta.

The Biddeford charter requires its superintendent to reside in Biddeford within six months of being hired. Ray, who lives in Saco with his wife and young son, started his job at the beginning of July. The school board extended the deadline until the end of this year for him to move to Biddeford or lose his job.

Ray said he’s unsure what he’ll do.

“As a family, we’re keeping our options open,” he said.

In November, Biddeford voters were asked to change the charter to remove the residency requirement. Voters rejected the change.

School committee member Jim Emerson said the committee failed to communicate the importance of the change. With that option eliminated, the school committee asked Mayor Alan Casavant, who is also the house representative for District 137 representing part of Biddeford, to draft legislation to make a change at the state level, said Emerson.

In response, Casavant sponsored LD 6, “An Act to Prohibit the Requirement that a Superintendent Reside in the School Administrative Unit.”

As far as he was concerned, said Casavant, the change he sought goes along with state law, which puts authority regarding educational issues in the hands of members of a school board or committee.

In addition, he said, “the whole goal was to improve education in Biddeford, (but) instead it became a partisan issue.”

In April, both the House and Senate overwhelmingly voted in favor of the measure, with more than the necessary two-thirds votes to override a veto by the governor. However, a number of Republican House members changed their votes. Tuesday’s vote was 88 in favor of LD 6 and 56 against ”“ not enough to override LePage’s veto.

In his veto message, the governor highlighted the issue of home rule, said Rep. Corey Wilson, R-Augusta, so when the new vote was taken, Republicans changed their votes to support home rule.

However, Wilson didn’t change his vote.

Like Biddeford, the Augusta charter requires superintendents to reside within the city, which has made it difficult to find a qualified applicant, he said.

Currently, John Anastasio, who lives in Gardiner, is Augusta’s interim school superintendent.

“Ideally, we’d like a full-time superintendent,” said Wilson.

Augusta would probably seek a charter change to eliminate the residency requirement, he said.

Biddeford, having already sought that change, now has a limited number of options. The school committee could try to challenge the legality of the charter requirement in court, said Casavant. He said he thinks the mandate may violate state statute.

If Ray decides not to move and leaves his job, the city would have to once more look for a new superintendent.

If that happens, said Emerson, funds for a superintendent search and to pay for someone to relocate to Biddeford would need to be included in the school budget. At Tuesday’s school committee meeting, members voted to reserve $35,000 in the 2014 budget, to be used, if needed, to pay for the cost of the search for a new superintendent and for relocation.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or [email protected].