Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

Brighton Area Schools teachers will soon be under terms of a new, three-year contract that was unanimously ratified Monday night by the Board of Education.

The 339 teachers - members of the Brighton Education Association - ratified the contract in voting that began last Thursday and ended Monday morning. Without divulging the exact vote, BEA Chief Negotiator Jenny Sobelewski tells WHMI the union approved the contract by what she calls a “comfortable” margin.

The board also ratified a new, 3-year contract with the Brighton Area Schools Administrators Association. That bargaining unit represents 17 school principals, assistant principals and department directors.

Both contracts include a 3.5% pay increase for the 2025-26 year, a 2.5% hike the second year and another 2.5% increase the third year.

All in all, Supt. Matthew Outlaw was highly pleased with the process. In his words, “It was handled very professionally on both sides, particularly with the state not passing a budget (in a timely fashion).” Outlaw also says that due to changes at the state level, there are 11 language modifications in the new contract. He says items that were non-negotiable from 2011 to 2024 are once again possible subjects for bargaining. He says primary among them are teacher discipline, evaluations and layoffs.

The contract settlements leave just one union in the Brighton Schools without a contract - the Brighton Area Support Personnel Association. “BESPA” represents roughly 105 para-professionals, food service workers, mechanics and secretaries whose old contract expired on June 30th. Outlaw tells WHMI the two sides are, quote, “very, very close to an agreement.”

One aspect of the teachers; contract that has been a bone of contention in the past is the union’s free use of a room at Brighton High School for its offices. Outlaw says with the new contract, the BEA will now pay $600 per year for use of the 300-square-foot office space.

Although he didn’t have exact figures, Brighton Superintendent Matthew Outlaw told WHMI after the meeting that in the third year, the contract will bring the starting salary for a starting teacher with a bachelor’s degree and teacher certification to the mid-$50,000 range. For a veteran teacher at the top of the salary schedule, a master’s degree and 30 years of classroom experience, that would bring the salary to roughly the $100,000 level.

The Brighton Area School District is operating on a 25-26 fiscal year general fund budget of $124.8 million, based in part on state per-pupil aid. This year's Michigan State Foundation Grant allowance for Brighton is $10,050 per student - a $442 increase over last year.