Bedford teachers took one step closer to receiving a pay raise that many local residents say is years overdue.

At the Bedford School District's annual deliberative session last night, at Bedford High School, SAU 25 officials and school board members reviewed 10 warrant articles with those in attendance.

The lone article to engage residents in extended discussion was Article II, which calls for $1,003,466 to fund an increase in teacher salaries.

School Board members explained the number was reached through a collective bargaining agreement between the school district and the Bedford Education Association.

In terms of teachers' salaries, board member Scott Earnshaw explained that Bedford had fallen behind other similar districts in southern New Hampshire that offer similarly highly rated education standards.

Some of the districts Earnshaw compared included Amherst, Bow, Hollis, Londonderry, Windham and Merrimack. Using the example of a first-year, bachelors-degree-holding starting teacher, he said only Merrimack offers less in terms of annual salary (approx. $1,500 less per year). On the other hand, districts such as Amherst pay educators with the same resume up to $4,800 more in their first year.

"We don't necessarily want to be the leader (in salary)," said Earnshaw, "but we need to be competitive."

On the other hand, Earnshaw explained, Bedford has made up for its lack in net pay with insurance benefits that far exceed most of the other districts he mentioned.

Part of the agreement with the union, he said, is that teachers are willing to increase their insurance contribution, a step that lowers the school district's obligation on a family plan from 94- to 88-percent.

"This agreement shifts a significant amount of the insurance risk to the teachers," said Earnshaw.

Though it first appeared no discussion was imminent, Beverly Barry approached the microphone and sparked the evening's only significant conversation.

"I appreciate the fact that teachers haven't had a raise for a period of time, but a lot of us who have had jobs for awhile haven't had raises for awhile," said Barry. "I hope teachers understand one million is an awfully big hit to take. I request Article II be removed from budget."

Roughly a dozen of her fellow residents followed, and while some needed clarification on some details of the agreement, almost all supported the bump in teachers' salary.

Katie Curran, for example, spoke passionately, and at length, about growing up with a Bedford education and then becoming a teacher, herself, in town.

John Arico, a local businessman also spoke. He noted that there are only so many hits you can ask a team of quality employees to take before losing them to greener pastures.

"I'm in full support of Article II. It should remain as is," he said. "As a businessman, I've asked my team ... and the teachers here are a team as well. They make it happen every single day ... For two years, I've asked my team to take hits, and it gets to the point where we have to say enough is enough."

Arico reinstated his 401K matching contribution and merit bonuses to his employees, and suggested it was time Bedford finally reward its hardworking teachers.

Several other residents noted that many people move to Bedford for its quality of education and sourced a Forbes article from April 2011 that labeled Bedford fifth in the entire country - scoring 97.96 out of 100 - for its education value.

"Bedford is also known for bad traffic on 101, but that's not what brings people to this town," said one resident, who noted he moved his family to Bedford last year. "We came here for the education, and if the education goes down, we'll move elsewhere."

When all was said and done, the article moved forward without an amendment, or even a motion to do so. It will now be voted on at the March 13 elections.

The meeting quickly sped up as School District moderator Ryk Bullock rattled off Atricles III-VII (standard raises and collective bargaining agreements with other district faculty and staff) with no discussion.

The pace slowed only for a brief moment at article VIII, when one residents asked a clarification question on the district's proposes operating budget of $60,038,867, which represents a $315,989 decrease from last year's allotment. When no other dialogue arose, the meeting quickly moved forward.

The meeting stalled once more, at Article X, but only briefly.

The petitioned article asks that the school board cease and desist from the practice of utilizing surplus operating funds for non-emergency capital cost expenditures not approved by voters and instead roll said funds forward to offset the next operating budget.

Resident Paul Brock said the article wasn't necessary and was borderline offensive to the district. He noted that school board members have done well in creating conservative budgets that provide some cushion room should expenses become greater than anticipated or should revenues fall short of projections.

School Board Chair Terry Wolf explained the times the district has used surplus funds were for matters such as the replacement of a failed septic system at Bedford Memorial School and putting new roofs on schools and improving security. Anything viewed as non-essential has not been done, she added, and the balance has always been returned to the taxpayers.

A couple other residents spoke out against the article, saying the school board has always taken great care in conserving surplus funds and has earned the trust of residents until proven otherwise.

Kathy Piotrowski suggested the article be amended to say that the district be allowed to use any surplus under $250,000, but anything above that be returned. The motion, the only one of the night, garnered some support, but was ultimately rejected by voters.