Central Bucks will vote Tuesday night on an $85,500 pay raise for its superintendent by abandoning an old contract

The Central Bucks school board is scheduled to vote Tuesday night on a new contract raising Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh’s salary to $315,000, up from $229,500.

The nearly 40% increase would immediately make Lucabaugh, who leads Pennsylvania’s third-largest school district, one of the state’s highest-paid superintendents. Last year, only Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington made more, with a salary of $340,000, according to Department of Education data. (Lucabaugh started his contract at $225,000 and received a 2% raise after his first year.)

To grant the raise, the board plans to first vote on accepting the resignation of Lucabaugh, who is just two years into a five-year contract, according to the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. Then, it will vote on a new five-year contract.

Ending a superintendent’s contract early to replace it with a new one isn’t unheard of, said Jeffrey Sultanik, a lawyer who serves as solicitor for a number of area school districts.

However, “a lot of school districts don’t like to do this, because it looks like it is a subversion of the normal process,” Sultanik said.

Board president Dana Hunter did not respond to a request for comment.

Lucabaugh was an assistant superintendent, high school principal, and assistant middle school principal in the district before taking over as superintendent in September 2021.

He has been seen as an ally of the Republican-controlled board as the district has faced allegations of discriminating against LGBTQ students. A district-commissioned investigation — with bills topping $1 million — found no evidence Central Bucks had created a hostile environment. The U.S. Department of Education also has been investigating.

Amid controversy over policies passed by the school board prohibiting teacher advocacy in classrooms and banning “sexualized content” in library books, Lucabaugh has repeatedly pledged to guard against “the sexualization of children.”

His proposed raise — revealed with the posting of the board agenda Monday — drew immediate pushback from some community members, including Democrats vying for control of the board in November’s elections.

“Forty percent seems egregious,” said Heather Reynolds, a Democrat running against Hunter. The district has more than 130 support staff openings, she said, saying the raise was “misspent.”

“This is just another example of our board misusing our funds, and doing things it seems in secret. There was no indication this was something that would come up,” Reynolds said.

There are no reasons given in the agenda for scrapping the current contract and offering a significant raise.

The proposed contract would include additional raises for Lucabaugh each year, with 2.5% increases in the first two years and 3% increases in the remaining three years, provided he earns ratings of “proficient” on board evaluations.

The school board meets Tuesday at 7 p.m.