The group looking to open a charter school in Wiscasset, possibly at the former Wiscasset Primary School, has changed its plans to seek state approval this year, Les Fossel of Alna said Tuesday. Fossel, who serves on the inception committee for the would-be school, said the committee made the decision Aug. 13, in what amounted to a show of good faith to Wiscasset.

The Wiscasset School Committee clearly had a high level of anxiety that the new school would compete for students with the town’s schools, he said. Taking students away is the opposite of what the inception committee wants; the point is to help attract more students to town, he said.

The inception committee had sent the state a letter of intent to apply for authorization of the Sheepscot Bay Charter School. The deadline to apply is Sept. 1.

Fossel said the group isn’t ruling out applying to the state next year, but the hope is that the authorization will instead take the route the group has vastly preferred from the start, approval by the the School Committee.

The group plans to keep holding meetings and working to provide answers to questions the School Committee raised in a July discussion, Fossel said.

He is not concerned that this year’s applicants will win all three of the remaining charter school slots the state can award. One of the three slots may get taken, but he would be shocked if all three do, he said. The legislature could also decide to add more slots, the former state lawmaker said.

Fossel said the group hopes to talk further with the School Committee with the goal of working together. The group’s decision not to apply to the state takes the pressure off both panels, he said.

Reached Tuesday, School Committee Chairman Steve Smith said the group’s decision did not surprise him at all. The earlier discussion showed that organizers did not have enough information to move forward, Smith said.

As for the prospect of further talks, Smith said that he couldn’t speak for the rest of the school committee, but for his part, he didn’t know how it could fit the inception committee into its schedule. Budget season is coming up and the school department has other business that also needs time and attention, he said.

“I think it’s absolutely the wrong thing for Wiscasset schools to do right now,” Smith said about exploring a charter school in town. “We need to concentrate on our own school system.”

About half of the inception committee’s members serve on the board at Morris Farm next door to the former primary school on Gardiner Road. The town’s decision to close the school led to the idea for a charter school, Fossel has said; a charter school also fits with discussions Morris Farm has been having for years about furthering its educational mission, according to Fossel and wife Merry Fossel. The couple serve as co-presidents of Morris Farm’s board.

If the school committee ultimately decides not to authorize the charter school, but there is a demand for one, the inception committee may turn back to the state or seek to serve as another charter school’s second location, Les Fossel said.