The Shaler Area school board voted 7-2 to approve a new four-year contract with the district's employee union at a special meeting Monday night.

A large contingent of Shaler Area Education Association members attended the brief meeting and left satisfied that the contract they voted for on April 30 is now official.

The new contract gives teachers and other union members a 4.5 percent average salary increase and caps health care contributions at $100 per family in the fourth year of the contract. The union originally was seeking a 4.9 percent increase in salaries. District officials had wanted a health care cap of up to $150.

Health care contributions were a major sticking point during contract negotiations that began last fall and led to the appointment of fact-finder Christopher Miles. It was his report that was approved last night.

The new contract offers SAEA members two health care plans. The HMO plan caps employee contributions to a maximum of $40 in the contract's fourth year, while family contributions were limited to $100 in the fourth year for those enrolled in the PPO plan.

"A lot of people are going back to the PPO because the two plans are identical any more and you can go out of the network for care," explained Jo Ann Noble, SAEA president.

Shaler Superintendent Donald Lee also was pleased that both sides have accepted the fact-finder's report. "I am delighted we were able to reach a resolution so quickly," he commented. "There is a lot going on in the district now with the reconfiguration of the grades to meet our 'Vision for the Future' plan. The teachers have been under stress and I'm glad for them that we were able to put this behind us and get on with our goal of teaching the community's children."

The 429-member SAEA had been working without a contract since August. The union voted to authorize a strike last fall if a contract wasn't reached by the end of November but elected not to because the vote was close. However, after negotiations between the board and union were unproductive, the SAEA requested the appointment of an impartial fact-finder by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. Fact-finding is a nonbinding form of dispute resolution under Act 88.

Shaler Area School District serves 5,300 students in Etna, Millvale, Reserve and Shaler.