The Mars Area school board liked what a state fact-finder proposed for contracts with the district's teachers and support staff.

Members of those two unions, however, did not.

School board members voted 9-0 during a special meeting Wednesday to approve fact-finder Mark Winters' recommendations. Representatives of the Mars Area Education Association and Mars Area Education Support Professionals said that their members rejected the report in earlier votes.

"Given the difficult economic environment, we found this to be a fair report," board President J. Dayle Ferguson said. "By definition, fact-finding is supposed to be a compromise."

Under state labor law, both sides must vote a second time within 10 days, after which the fact-finder's report is made public. The board will vote again during its Tuesday work session. There was no word on when the two unions would take their second votes.

Contracts with both unions end June 30. Last May, the board approved a two-year contract recommended by Mr. Winters, and the teachers rejected it. But the teachers came back to the board in August with a proposal to adopt the provisions of the first year of the report, including salary and step movement freezes.

First Published: May 30, 2012, 11:45 p.m.
Updated: May 30, 2012, 11:49 p.m.