ADAMS TWP — The Mars School Board and its 204 teachers have signed an early bird contract that will carry them through to 2016-17.

The board approved the three-year contract at a meeting on Tuesday night. The teachers voted to approve the contract earlier that day.

Board President Dayle Ferguson said the contract will begin immediately after the current, one-year contract expires on June 30. The new contract will remain in effect through June 30, 2017.

Ferguson said the contract includes a 1.5 percent pay increase in the first year and the second year, and a 1.75 percent increase in the third year.

Superintendent Jim Budzilek said the base salary in the first year of the contract for a new, step-one teacher with a bachelor’s degree will be $39,995. The highest salary that year would be $71,516 for a teacher who has reached step 18 — which is the highest level of pay for a teacher.

As part of the new contract, teachers also will pay a higher insurance co-pay when they visit a doctor, but that will not take effect until the second and third years of the contract.

Budzilek explained that beginning in the 2015-16 school year, the co-pay for a visit to an in-network specialist will rise from $25 to $30. In 2016-17, the co-pay for an in-network visit to a general practitioner will rise from $15 to $20.

The co-pays will remain the same this school year, and in 2014-15.

The contract also increases the teachers’ work year by one day, to 189 days per school year.

“This agreement is fiscally sustainable, will provide budget stability and predictability, and is consistent with the school board’s commitment to keeping the dollars close to students and the educational program,” Ferguson said in a statement.

Budzilek, who took over for retired superintendent William Pettigrew in November, said he appreciates settling the contract early. He also was glad to agree to a three-year term. Both the current contract and the last were one-year agreements.

“It’s pleasant, as a starting superintendent, to have labor peace for three years,” Budzilek said. “Both the district and the teachers association were very interested in this, and worked very quickly and efficiently to come up with an agreement.”

Karen Yost, a high school English teacher and president of the Mars Area Education Association, said the new agreement is the only early contract anyone in the district can remember.

She said the district requested that talks begin before the scheduled January sessions, so the two sides began meeting in October.

She was amazed at the collaboration that was achieved in the five meetings since October.

“This was just the perfect situation,” Yost said of the negotiations. “Dr. Budzilek has been wonderful, as has Mrs. Ferguson. And (the association’s) negotiation team was fantastic.”

She said the negotiations are the first in at least a decade that have been without any major disagreements.

“I think that speaks volumes about where this district is headed,” Yost said.