The Mt. Lebanon school board Wednesday night approved a five-year agreement with the Mt. Lebanon Education Association.

The agreement includes a salary increase of 4.15 percent over the life of the contract, increased teacher health care contributions, a longer teacher work year and work day and discussion of implementing merit pay.

The agreement will last from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2015 and will cover the district's 433 teachers.

The MLEA ratified the contract before the school board meeting.

School board members voted 8-0 in favor of the contract. School director Josephine Posti was not at the meeting and so did not vote, but she teleconferenced in her support of the contract.

Several school board members said they initially were hesitant to support salary increases of 4.15 percent, including raises and step movement, over the length of the five-year contract during an economic period when private sector employees were seeing stagnant or diminished pay. But they pointed to cost savings for the school district under the new contract, as well as managerial efficiencies and increased teacher-student time.

Measures to decrease costs for the district include teacher health care contribution of as much as 10 percent by the fifth year of the agreement, reduced extra duty responsibility pay and a cap on academic reimbursement for teachers.

The new contract also includes two additional instructional days for students, for a total of 184 days.

The school district and the MLEA have been in negotiations since January.

"Our combined efforts at the bargaining table have produced an agreement that reflects the importance and value of our teachers while being mindful of the community's interests during these challenging economic times," school board president Ed Kubit said in a statement.

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