By Sharron Luttrell

The Mendon-Upton Regional School Committee last night approved a nearly $48.3 million fiscal year 2027 operational budget, which puts Mendon’s share $1.795 million above the town’s levy limit.

Town officials are working on ways to narrow that gap, but voters can expect a Proposition 2 ½ override question in May. Mendon and Upton voters must approve the request at their respective town meetings and at the polls for it to pass.

Mendon’s share of the proposed school budget is $13,773,347 while Upton is being asked to pay $17,904.129.

The budget would fund five new positions that school officials identified as filling critical or mandated needs. These are a third-grade teacher, a school psychologist, an English language teacher and two special education teachers. The remaining $735,931 would service debt on the capital projects voters approved last year.

School Finance Director Jay Byer explained that 81% of the budget increase is due to rising health insurance and special education costs and contracted salary increases. In addition to the proposed new positions, other key drivers of the increases are expiring curriculum resources, rising utilities and building operations costs, pensions for former non-teaching staff, and a jump in school transportation costs.

“These are the things that are really increasing the budget and almost all of them are fixed costs with the exception of the proposal of the needs-based services and the curriculum resources,” School Committee Chair Jim Forkey said at the May 9 budget hearing. “All of them are fixed costs that are out of our control.”

School officials plan to schedule budget information sessions once the Mendon and Upton select boards set their budgets.  

Watch the March 9 school budget hearing.

View the FY27 budget presentation.

View the school district’s FY27 budget book.

View the school district’s FY27 line item budget.