A final agreement has been reached by the Mandan Education Association and the Mandan School Board for a two-year negotiated agreement.

"Are we done?" MEA negotiating team member Jeannie Danielson asked after the last item was decided. The meeting was punctuated by laughter and smiles as issues like health insurance, sick leave buyout, salary and the final topic of early retirement were decided.

It was a decidedly different tone from two years ago, when the two groups tried to negotiate an agreement. That agreement went to impasse, and a fact finder was brought into the proceedings.

The agreement that was decided upon Wednesday in the gym at Lewis and Clark Elementary School now needs to be ratified by a majority of the MEA membership. It calls for $2,595,723 in additional money to pay for salaries, health insurance, Teachers Fund For Retirement increases and co-curricular costs.

The MEA scrapped a counter- proposal that originally was less than $100,000 under the board's proposal after it factored in the doubling cost of health insurance for a two-year agreement, which brought it about $1 million over. So instead, the MEA came up with three proposals within the board's proposed amount of spending.

The MEA opted for the proposal that increased base salaries $1,800 the first year, brought the first year salary to $27,400 and has employees using payroll deductions to pay for the health insurance increase.

Health insurance kept the first- year salary from reaching $30,000 a year by 2008-09, which was the MEA's goal. Health insurance was estimated to increase by 23 percent. For an employee-only plan, the district would pay $231 per month and the employee would pay $54 per month the first year and $85 per month the second year, according to the latest estimates.

Money earmarked for the early retirement buyout was nixed from the proposal to afford the health insurance increase. Certified employees can opt for 40 percent of their salary if they meet the requirements of the early retirement policy. The district generally budgets for it the fiscal year following the year the retirement is approved. For example, early retirement requests approved in 2006-07 would be paid out of the 2007-08 budget.

The MEA had wanted to have the early retirement buyout as part of the negotiated agreement for the next two years to protect teachers from changes in board policy. In spring 2005, 19 teachers were denied early retirement because the board said it couldn't afford it.

But, board members, who represent the board negotiating team, said that shouldn't be a problem when teachers ask to retire in the spring.

"We want you to know it is a huge priority of ours," board negotiating team member Kirsten Baesler said.

The agreement goes to a vote by the membership of the MEA within the week, and if approved, the school board will call a meeting to approve it.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)