South Butler County teachers and the school board agree that any wage increases should be retroactive to July 2008, once the two sides come to terms on a new contract.

That is about the only issue where there is agreement in the "final best contract offers" submitted recently by both sides to an arbitration panel.

The teachers and school board remain divided on the size of those wage increases, contributions toward health insurance, early retirement incentives and the length of the school day.

The three-member panel will hold a closed hearing at 4 p.m. Dec. 16 on the school district campus in Jefferson to review final offers. The panel's decision is likely to be announced in mid-January.

Under state Act 88, the 1992 law covering collective bargaining for school teachers, both sides must participate in arbitration, but the panel's decision will not be binding.

Teachers are asking for retroactive wage increases averaging 5.23 percent for last year, 5.07 percent this year, 4.8 percent in 2010-11, 4.63 percent in 2011-12 and 4.56 percent in 2012-13.

The district is offering 3.5 percent for last year and this year and 4 percent for the next three years.

The teachers propose three options for health insurance with monthly employee contributions ranging from $20 to $45 per month for family coverage.

The district wants the teachers to accept the same Highmark PPO Blue plan agreed to by support personnel and clerical staff. Employees would pay $50 per month next year for family coverage, $60 in 2011-12 and $70 in 2012-13.

South Butler teachers have been without a new contract since July 2008, and have gone on strike twice since their old pact expired.

They could take to the picket lines once again if no agreement is reached following the current arbitration. Such a walkout would have to be brief, since the district is required under state law to provide 180 days of instruction by June 30.

The arbitration panel, headed by mediator Michael McDowell, must choose among the board's final offer, the teacher's final offer or a fact-finder's 2008 settlement recommendation. Under the ground rules set by the state Bureau of Mediation, the panel cannot pick and choose elements from each offer but must recommend a complete package of proposals.

Butch Santicola, a spokesman for the district's 186 teachers, said he believed that "package" requirement would make a settlement less likely, since all three options already have been rejected by one party or the other.

The school board, however, lobbied for "package" review of proposals.

Board solicitor Thomas Breth said that the school district and teachers had participated in final best offer arbitration in March 2008 on an issue-by-issue basis. That process failed to produce a settlement, he said.

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