By the slimmest majorities last week, the Maine Principals’ Association decided to reintroduce Maine high-school athletes to the rest of New England. Done properly, the results of this decision will have lasting benefits to the competitors and the state.

By a 26-25 vote, MPA agreed to allow Maine athletes to compete in regional championships starting next year in cross country, wrestling, golf, tennis, swimming and indoor and outdoor track. Other New England states also hold regional championships in gymnastics. Success with these individual sports could allow for a similar change with team sports, which competed regionally 20 years ago.

Schools in Maine stopped competing after 1978, when withdrawals by Massachusetts and Connecticut after toruble at basketball and hockey games caused officials there to rethink those states’ participation. New England competitions have gone through a couple of permutations since then, currently emphasizing the individual sports. The MPA was right to encourage Maine to become a part of this program again.

Sending Maine athletes beyond the state’s broders to compete is valuable for several reasons. It offers them a chance to test their skills against the region’s best and could open their eyes about their own abilities. For a few, it should improve the chances of winning a scholarship to college. Especially for students who would not otherwise travel outside of Maine, the opportunity to see that life exists and occasionally thrives outside the Pine Tree State should not be missed.

Getting approval to compete, however, is not the same as getting a budget for travel and other expenses. Schools interested in taking part may have to rely on each other to help share the cost of sending students to the contests. As a benefit, of course, Maine should expect to take its turn as the host state to the various competitions.

With the MPA approval, the responsiblity for making Maine’s participation work falls more heavily on the student-athletes. How well they conduct themselves next year will largely determine whether Maine permanently ends its two-decade exile from New England championships.