District overview
Shrewsbury Public Schools
How Shrewsbury pays for its schools, and what's changing this year.
How does Shrewsbury pay for its schools?
The elected School Committee builds a budget request each winter and spring, then Town Meeting votes to appropriate it. A multi-year agreement between the town and the schools caps how fast that request is allowed to grow each year; for FY27 the cap was 4.75%, and the committee's final request came in under it.
The budget request is capped by a town agreement, not just state law
Shrewsbury's town-school agreement limited the FY27 increase to 4.75%. The committee's initial ask in February matched that cap; by April it recommended less.
The final number came in under the cap
On April 15, 2026 the committee unanimously voted to recommend $94,431,135, a 4.53% increase over FY26's $90,339,987 — about $200,000 below the February ask.
Special education costs rose faster than the rest of the budget
Out-of-district special-education tuition rose $310,991 because the district is serving 53 students outside the district instead of the 50 originally projected. Staying under the cap meant absorbing that increase elsewhere.
Building projects are funded separately from the operating budget
The $3.0 million study for a Shrewsbury High School expansion went to voters as its own Special Town Meeting article in October 2025, not as part of the annual school budget.
A capped budget increase is not evidence of financial distress. Many Massachusetts suburbs limit school-budget growth by local agreement rather than by state law, and Shrewsbury's committee has stayed under its own cap for FY27 rather than needing an override vote.
Where the district stands
State enrollment count, down about 110 students (-1.8%) from 2024-25. Not from a document collected for this district, so shown as context rather than verified.
Most recent year DESE has published; the district's own May 2026 committee report on per-pupil spending did not state a figure in the collected agenda or recording.
Major projects
Shrewsbury High School expansion
Feasibility study underwayThe state's MSBA accepted Shrewsbury High School into its building program in September 2025 — 1 of 22 districts picked statewide out of 119 that applied — because the school, built in 2002 for 1,475 students, has reached or passed that capacity. Voters approved a $3.0 million feasibility study in October 2025, and the district has since hired an Owner's Project Manager to oversee the work.
- MSBA accepts Shrewsbury High School into its core building program
- School Committee sets the feasibility study at $3.0 million and votes to send it to Special Town Meeting
- Special Town Meeting approves the feasibility funding
- District confirms the feasibility study is underway with MSBA
- PMA Consultants selected as Owner's Project Manager
- School Committee appoints a member to a new SHS Building Committee
Funding
Town of Shrewsbury Special Town Meeting appropriation, with Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) partnership
FY27 school operating budget
Committee-adopted, pending Town MeetingThe School Committee unanimously recommended a $94,431,135 FY27 budget, a 4.53% increase over FY26 — under the town's 4.75% growth cap even after absorbing a $310,991 rise in out-of-district special-education costs.
- Committee votes on FY27 budget priorities, guidance, and calendar
- Administration proposes a 4.75% increase, the maximum under the town agreement
- Public hearing on the proposed FY27 budget
- Committee unanimously votes to recommend $94,431,135 (4.53%) to Town Meeting
Funding
Town of Shrewsbury Town Meeting appropriation, within a multi-year town-school growth-cap agreement
Superintendent search and leadership transition
Transition completeSuperintendent Joseph Sawyer announced his retirement after 17 years in October 2025. A national search that included Shrewsbury High School's own principal and two other sitting/interim superintendents ended with the district promoting from inside: Calvin Coolidge School principal Tiffany Ostrander is now superintendent, and by July 2026 she had recommended a new assistant superintendent of her own.
- Superintendent Sawyer announces retirement, effective end of June 2026
- Superintendent Search Screening Committee formed
- Screening Committee names four finalists, including Coolidge principal Tiffany Ostrander
- Special meeting to deliberate and vote to enter contract negotiations with the preferred candidate
- Superintendent Ostrander recommends, and the committee appoints, a new assistant superintendent
Funding
District operating budget (search-consultant and standard hiring costs; no separate appropriation)
Recent news
Recent alerts by topic
Built from a chronological review of every School Committee agenda posted to the Town of Shrewsbury's records center over the trailing year, plus the meeting recordings and auto-generated captions Shrewsbury Media Connection mirrors on the Internet Archive. Figures below are tied to specific meeting dates.
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