Teachers in the Pittsburgh Public Schools are working their seventh month without a contract as negotiators confront perpetually thorny issues and new challenges related to Superintendent Mark Roosevelt's reorganization plan.

The union and the district presented their demands during fact-finding proceedings Jan. 4, 10 and 11. The fact-finder must give his recommendations to the parties by Monday, said Bruce Campbell, the district's chief negotiator.

"I think the circumstances are more difficult than they've ever been before," Mr. Campbell said yesterday, citing the district's financial and academic problems.

Under state law, the parties have 10 days to review and vote on the fact-finder's recommendations.

In a Jan. 17 letter to members, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers President John Tarka said the 3,000-member bargaining unit will hold a membership meeting Feb. 1 at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall in Oakland to detail negotiations, explain the fact-finder's report and recommend approval or rejection of the report. Members then will vote.

Lisa Fischetti, Mr. Roosevelt's chief of staff, said the board will vote at a special meeting Jan. 31.

"If both parties accept the report, then there would be a contract," Mr. Campbell said.

If at least one party rejects the report, it's released for public review, and the parties, after weighing public reaction, vote a second time. If the report is rejected a second time, the two sides may resume bargaining, Mr. Campbell said.

Teachers are working under terms of the last contract, a two-year deal that expired June 30. Under that contract, the maximum salary on the scale is $70,500, though teachers get extra money for longevity, extra work and other factors.

Mr. Campbell said the union and the district agreed to let teachers advance on the salary scale without a new agreement, meaning those eligible for a salary adjustment this school year have been receiving it. He said at least half of the district's teachers are at the top of the scale already.

For the first time in decades, the contract is being negotiated without Al Fondy, who died May 18 after 38 years as union president.

Salary, often a stumbling block, is an especially difficult issue in this round of talks because of the district's financial position.

The district began the 2006 budget process with a $47.1 million operating deficit and closed the gap by cutting about 350 jobs, factoring in projected savings from the school reorganization and taking $33 million from the reserve fund. District officials have said more belt-tightening is possible, and Mr. Roosevelt told a Hill District community meeting in December that bankruptcy remained a possibility.

Mr. Roosevelt's reorganization plan added wrinkles to the negotiations.

Besides closing 20 schools, Mr. Roosevelt wants to open two new schools in existing buildings and reconstitute seven low-performing schools as "accelerated learning academies" with 30 percent more instructional time.

The academies would be new schools, and the union and district must agree on procedures for hiring teachers and compensating them for extra time. In a letter to members last month, Mr. Tarka said "considerable work" remained on negotiations involving the academies.

Besides financial worries, the district has academic problems; the state could take over the district this year because of three years of low test scores. Mr. Roosevelt has said his reorganization would boost student achievement by closing low-performing schools and moving students to better ones, including the academies.

At the Hill District meeting, sponsored by Black Political Empowerment Project, Mr. Roosevelt expressed frustration with a seniority system that has some of the district's least-experienced teachers in the lowest-performing schools. District officials declined to discuss bargaining issues, but Mr. Campbell said Mr. Roosevelt's educational concerns "are certainly things being discussed in collective bargaining."

Some districts have pay-for-position programs that give extra compensation to teachers who fill slots in schools with high turnover and a need for experienced faculty, according to "Policy Trends," a newsletter of WestEd, a San Francisco-based education group.

The newsletter said pay-for-position is one example of the salary reforms school districts nationwide are exploring, in part because federal and state accountability requirements have raised interest in tying teachers' pay to performance.

In Texas, the Aldine Independent School District offers incentive pay to all employees. Bonuses vary according to school performance, individual performance and factors such as student attendance, but could be as much as $1,500 annually for teachers, Deputy Superintendent Archie Blanson said. The district has been a finalist the past two years for the Broad Prize for Urban Education, awarded to districts that make strides in student achievement and in reducing ethnic achievement gaps.

Mr. Roosevelt has expressed interest in incentive pay for principals of accelerated learning academies. Victor J. Papale, executive director of A+ Schools, Downtown, said the idea should be explored for district teachers, too.