JEFFERSON TWP — The South Butler School Board and its 168 teachers are talking again, and a new proposal and counter proposal will be discussed at two bargaining sessions scheduled next week.

In a negotiations update sent out Wednesday, board negotiator and solicitor Tom Breth said the two sides met for six hours Tuesday and will meet again Monday and Tuesday.

The board last met in a stalemate session Feb. 8, and the teachers announced they would strike March 15 if no contract is reached by that time.

As a result of Tuesday's session, school board members presented a proposal to the teachers that they feel showed progress on “several important issues,” but which includes several ultimatums for teachers if they do not accept the proposal.

A counter proposal from teachers was also included in the negotiations update, along with the board's reaction to it.

The district's last contract with teachers expired in June 2014.

Regarding salary increases, the teachers union has requested retroactive step-ups and lump-sum cash payments to the highest salary levels for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years and $500 added to each pay level step for the 2016-17 school year.

The teachers are asking for a 3.75 percent pay increase in the current year and next two school years.

The school board is offering a 3.75 percent wage increase in the 2017-18 school year only and step increases from 2014-15 to 2019-20.

However, the board is offering teachers who have worked in the district since 2014-15 a $1,750 payment per school year or a portion of that amount commensurate to the teacher's length of service in each year.

“These retroactive payments equal approximately $1,070,000, with an average retroactive compensation of $6,475 per teacher,” the proposal states.

The board threatened to eliminate the retroactive pay and step movement for 2014-15 to 2017-18 from the proposal if teachers do not agree to a tentative contract by March 15.

The union is requesting a seven-year contract effective from 2014-15 through 2020-21, while the school board is proposing a six-year term that ends in 2019-20.

Regarding health care, the board proposes leaving the teachers' Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage in place until the end of the current school year and moving to a consumer-driven health plan for the remainder of the contract.

The district would provide teachers with health reimbursement arrangement and flexible spending account. The proposal offers a 50-50 split between the district and a teacher of medical bills incurred before the teacher's deductible is met.

The deductible for a single teacher in the next two school years would be $1,250 and $2,500 for all other coverage levels, based on the board's proposal.

Premiums in the board's proposal would be $70 per month for an individual and $80 for all other coverage levels effective July 1, 2018, and $80 per month for an individual and $90 for all other levels beginning on July 1, 2019.

The union requested that the board consider moving to the Allegheny County School Health Insurance Consortium, but the board reply said there is not enough time to do so.

The length of the teachers' in-service days also has been a bone of contention between the two sides, and a proposal was made on that matter as well.

The teachers now work 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a one-hour lunch on in-service days. The school board wants to make in-service days the same as a regular school day, with 7.5 hours of work and a half-hour lunch.

The union, in its counter proposal, agreed to extend in-service day hours from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., but wants to retain the 60-minute lunch.

“In exchange for adding one hour to in-service days, the district will designate a subset of the employees' 10 sick days to allow the employee to utilize up to five sick days for illness of immediate family members,” the union's counter proposal states.