May 22, 2020 1 min read

ROSTRAVER – The Belle Vernon Area School District and its union teachers have ratified a new five-year contract, avoiding a strike.

The Belle Vernon Area Education Association approved the new contract March 13 after 14 months of negotiations, an agreement that calls for teachers to accept a salary freeze in the 2019-20 school year. The teachers will receive salary increases of about 2% in each of the remaining years of the pact, the district and association announced in a joint statement released Tuesday.

The association and the district worked to create financial success for the district in the future, according to the release.

Daneen Watson, association president, said the agreement offers stability to its members.

“We realize in these economic times that we had to help where we could financially,” Watson said.

A priority for the district was to remain “budget neutral” with limited cost increases over the life of the contract, the release stated.

The new contract is effective July 1, 2019, and it runs until June 30, 2024.