The Amherst secondary schools will enroll 41 more students who don't live in the regional district next fall, and the elementary schools are likely to accept "school choice" students for the first time.

The Regional School Committee voted 5-2 Tuesday in favor of adopting school choice for next year. Students who don't live in Amherst, Leverett, Shutesbury or Pelham have been allowed to attend the Regional Middle School and Amherst Regional High School in limited numbers for about 15 years.

At one point, there were 120 school choice students, but this year there are only 78. Administrators plan to increase that number to 119 next fall, with the middle school going from 21 to 44 and the high school from 57 to 75.

The school district receives extra state money for each school choice student it enrolls. This revenue is projected to increase from $300,000 this year to $470,000 next year.

Committee member Irv Rhodes said he supports school choice as long as it amounts to "back-filling" grades that have low enrollments and doesn't require any additional staff.

The two committee members who voted against the measure were Kip Fonsh of Leverett and Kristen Luschen of Shutesbury.

The Amherst and Shutesbury elementary schools have been the only ones in the region that have not adopted school choice. But Rhodes said he expects the Amherst School Committee to vote unanimously in favor at its meeting on Tuesday.

Superintendent Maria Geryk, who supports the plan, said there is a potential for as many as 40 students who don't live in Amherst attending the elementary schools next year, though the number could be as low as five. The number of students would vary from grade to grade, depending on enrollments, she said.

Committee members Kathryn Appy and Rob Spence spoke in favor of school choice at the Dec. 13 meeting. Spence said it could provide more flexibility in determining class sizes and noted that there are students who live in Amherst who are attending elementary school in other towns.