Board approves targeted pay-scale step increases for service years

The Bledsoe County Board of Education voted to increase years-of-service steps on several pay scales after staff recommended a targeted approach to avoid uneven increments across scales.

At a regular meeting on April 6, school finance staff presented a plan to move scales that currently have 20-year steps up by two steps now and to wait to adjust remaining scales until those reached 25 years. "I emailed everybody the increase to the budget if we were to increase the scales that are at 20 currently by two steps," the presenter said, citing an estimated budget impact of about "$10,000 something dollars." The proposal aimed to avoid situations where some scales would advance unevenly (for example, to 21, 22, 26 and 27) and to treat similarly situated positions together later.

A board member moved the plan and Mr. Churches seconded. The clerk conducted a roll call; responses recorded in the meeting were unanimously affirmative (Mrs. Oaks, Mr. Reese, Mr. Snow, Mr. Billingsley, Mr. Churches and others voting "yes"). The motion carried.

Board members and staff framed the change as a modest, administratively focused correction intended to keep pay scales internally consistent while limiting near-term budget impact. Staff noted the specific dollar impact was included in the budget materials provided to trustees.

The approval applies to the targeted years-of-service steps discussed at the meeting; no additional pay-scale changes were adopted at that time. The board continued into a more extensive discussion of the 2026–27 budget before recessing to a later date.