JEFFERSON TWP — The arbitration process to reach a new teacher contract has started in the South Butler School District.

Independent arbitrator Michael McDowell was selected for the hearings, according to Jim Jones, school board president. The arbitrator will sit on a panel with a representative of the school board and one from the teachers union to form a proposed contract.

The last teacher contract expired June 30, 2008. Since then, the teachers had two strikes, the most recent one in September.

State law mandates after a teacher strike both sides submit to nonbinding arbitration. This is what is occurring now.

Jones said at the school board meeting Wednesday night each side must submit its final best offer to McDowell by Nov. 13. Then representatives will meet with McDowell at a closed meeting Dec. 16.

The three-member panel decides between the offers submitted and a report prepared by a fact-finder in early 2008. The selected proposal among those three is presented to the teachers and the school board to be voted on.

If both sides accept the proposal, it becomes a contract. If either side rejects it, the two sides go back to the bargaining table, and the law opens the door for another strike by the teachers.

The issues in the ongoing negotiations with the district's 185 teachers continue to be wages, health care, early retirement incentives and the length of the school day.