Bullitt County board approves five-year teacher contract after hours-and-pay dispute sparks public comments

The Bullitt County Board of Education voted to approve a five-year collective bargaining agreement with the Bullitt County Education Association (BCEA) for 2025–2030 after a night of public comments from dozens of teachers who urged larger raises and pushed back on a proposed 15-minute extension to the teacher workday.

During public comment, several teachers described the added 15 minutes as uncompensated labor and urged the board to authorize a larger across-the-board raise. "A 5 to 8 percent pay increase would make Bullitt County more competitive with surrounding districts," Bullitt Central teacher Dr. Eden Gabbard said. "Investing in our educators is investing directly in the heart of Bullitt County's future." Melissa Hopkins, who reported serving on the BCEA contract negotiations team, said the additional 15 minutes effectively reduced pay by about 3.5 percent for some teachers and called for clearer, reciprocal communication between the board and staff.

Other speakers echoed those concerns. "They are done staying late. They are done giving hours of unpaid labor," said Doug Osborne, vice president of the Bullitt County Education Association.

Superintendent Dr. Jesse Bacon described the district's budgetary context and the mechanics of the proposed salary schedule during the superintendent's report. He said the district has increased the salary scale in each of the past seven years and noted that the district's pay structure includes step increases for years of service and additional pay for post-bachelor coursework. "We have to work within the means of what we have," Bacon said, adding that the district had used every available revenue increase in recent years to raise teacher compensation and that the proposed scale change would be applied year to year as required by law.

Board discussion and vote

Board members moved to approve the BCEA–Board contract after the union ratified the tentative agreement. Union leadership told the board the ratification vote was approximately 60–40 in favor. The board's recorded action approved the contract as submitted; the board also scheduled a special meeting for June 19 to consider construction contract awards unrelated to this matter.

What the contract and next steps mean

Superintendent Bacon and speakers said the contract governs grievance procedures, employee evaluation and discipline processes, workload parameters, leave provisions and other personnel procedures; the salary schedule itself is set annually. Teachers who spoke urged the board to translate the district's multi-year salary increases into a larger immediate raise and to address transparency and communication with staff.

The board did not take further amendments to the contract on the floor during the meeting. The superintendent said his office will continue to pursue incremental compensation increases as revenue allows and emphasized the district's recent investments in professional development, safety, classroom support and retention programs.

Ending

No additional formal actions on teacher compensation were taken at the meeting beyond approval of the five-year contract and scheduling of the June special meeting. The superintendent reiterated that his door remains open for further conversations with staff and that the district will continue seeking ways to increase teacher compensation within its available revenue.