Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

Negotiations will get underway in the next month or so aimed at achieving a new master contract for the roughly 325 members of the Brighton Education Association, which represents the district’s unionized teachers.

As far as the district's goal in the approaching talks is concerned, Brighton Superintendent Matthew Outlaw tells WHMI, in his words, "The district’s top priority is always the students that we serve. Recruiting and retaining the best staff possible is very important to best serving our students.”

The teachers are in the waning months of a 3-year contract signed in September of 2022 that is set to expire on August 31st of this year. The current contract includes a 4.5% wage increase the first year, plus an extra 0.5% for teachers who go through a professional development course, along with a 3.5% increase the second year and a 2% hike for the 24-25 year.

In addition, teachers received a 1.9% increase that was predicated on a combination of two factors: the state per-pupil aid increase and school enrollment. However, per-pupil state aid - also called the state foundation allowance, which was raised to $9,608 per student last year - was not increased for the current fiscal year. Currently, Brighton teachers earn from just under $50,000 per year for a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree to about $99,000 for one with over 30 years of experience and a master’s degree-plus.

BEA President Barry Goode tells WHMI that per-pupil state aid has very little to do with what the union will be seeking in the way of compensation. He says the fact that Brighton will have a $20 million fund equity by the end of the current fiscal year is much more relevant. Goode says, “Why is it going into a savings account? You can always say it’s 50% but we need 55% (put away). How much money do you need to put back for a rainy day?”


A bill signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in early 2024 restored bargaining subjects that had been prohibited when Republicans had full control of both houses of the state legislature. The previous law, passed in 2011, froze teacher salaries and required teachers to pay for increased health care premiums when the two sides could not reach agreement on a new contract.

In addition, it prohibited such bargaining topics as teacher evaluation, discipline, layoff and recall, and teacher placement. Goode says the BEA wants to bargain back “teacher evaluation, teacher discipline, and placement."

The Board of Education has been holding closed door sessions at the end of its regular meetings since the first meeting of the new year to discuss “strategy" in the upcoming talks. However, Outlaw says formal negotiations are not expected to start until March or even April.

The district will also hold contract talks with its two other unions, including the Brighton Education Support Personnel Association, called BESPA, and the Brighton Area Schools Administrators Association, or BASAA. BESPA represents roughly 105 food service and maintenance workers, mechanics, para-professionals, secretaries and clerical personnel whose contract expires on June 30th. BASAA covers about 20 school principals, assistant principals and department directors, whose 3-year contract expires on July 31st.

Both Outlaw and Goode say efforts by the Trump administration to eliminate the Department of Education will have little, if any, bearing, on local contract talks. “That’s pretty far removed (from us), Goode says. “For us, it’s more of a state (budget) thing.”

Jenny Sobolevski, named the chief BEA negotiator for this year’s talks, says she is optimistic about the forthcoming negotiations. She tells WHMI, quote, “I'm sure we will partner well with Brighton leadership to keep Brighton a destination district for both staff and students.”