Entry-level teachers (step one) will receive a 2-percent salary increase, teachers at step two through nine will get a 1-percent raise, and those at the top step of the pay scale (step ten) will get a 3.6 percent raise in 2008. There are about 65 top step teachers in the district.

In 2009, teachers from step one through nine will get a 2.5 percent raise and tenth-step teachers will get a 3.5 percent raise (entry level teacher salaries started at $33,648 and top level salaries at $63,876 in the 2006-2007 school year).

The district fought for language that would lower health-care expenses on a number of fronts, though Regional School Committee Co-Chair Ronald Cervasio doubted how much an impact any of it would have.

“Our teachers pay the third least amount to their health-care in the state,” said Cervasio. “We didn’t move up much on that.”

Teachers agreed to contribute a percentage of their salaries to health care, a departure from the flat rate (between $150 and $750) they paid towards health-care under the previous contract, which expired on June 30, 2007.

“It’s a more equitable formula because it’s based on earnings,” said John Leidecker, an assistant executive director at the National Education Association of Rhode Island, the statewide teachers union. “The district gets more money for health care but those teachers on the lower steps pay less than before.”

Early on in mediation, the two sides agreed not to pursue the traditional three-year deal. For a brief time, they even considered a one-year contract.

“We couldn’t take the long range view we had taken in the past because things have become so unpredictable at the state level. We can’t even depend on state aid” for schools, Hunter said.