Audience members hold signs during the South Butler School Board meeting Wednesday night.

JEFFERSON TWP — An increasingly acrimonious public back-and-forth over teacher contract negotiations at South Butler School District spilled into Wednesday's board meeting, with about 50 teachers packing the library at Knoch Middle School.

The board's major business Wednesday revolved around the district's preliminary 2017-18 budget — which school board members approved unanimously without a millage increase.

But in the run-up to that vote, the focus was on teachers and community members who lobbied the school board on taxes and teacher contract negotiations that have been at loggerheads for nearly three years now.

Some residents, like Susan Duttenhoeffer, said they were fed up with the lagging negotiations, and faulted the teachers union, saying they were turning down "huge raises" in the district's most recent contract offer. Duttenhoeffer and other residents asked board members to avoid raising taxes.

"I'm asking the school board to stand firm," Duttenhoeffer said. "This community can't afford higher taxes."

Teachers responded by pointing out that the district's recent track record on contract negotiations isn't stellar.

District veteran Katie Calendar said that of her 13 years teaching in South Butler, six have been without a contract. Calendar also said that South Butler teachers are among the lowest-paid educators in the county.

"We aren't asking to be paid like doctors and lawyers ... But we are asking to be paid like other teachers," Calendar said.

Board members ultimately voted on a $37.2 million preliminary budget that keeps millage rates steady at 94.275 mills, and uses more than $1.5 million out of the district's general fund balance to fill a budget gap for the 2017-18 fiscal year. The move would leave a little more than $2.9 million in the district's unassigned fund balance.