Miami-Dade teachers on Wednesday approved a new three-year contract that will boost teacher pay and maintain a no-cost option for individual health insurance.

The contract also won the unanimous support of the nine-member School Board Wednesday.

``I'm very pleased that we have finally begun to reward our teachers,'' board member Renier Diaz de la Portilla said.

Before Wednesday's signing ceremony, the United Teachers of Dade and the school district spent more than a year gridlocked over the issue of ``step increases,'' the advances employees make in the salary schedule.

The district's 22,000 teachers had been promised three step increases under their previous three-year contract.

But last summer, former Superintendent Rudy Crew said the school system couldn't afford the final step. Crew froze salaries districtwide.

The teachers had been working without a contract since the beginning of the school year.

District leaders and the union hammered out a new agreement last week.

When teachers were asked to weigh in, more than 14,200 cast their votes online, union leaders said. About 68 percent supported the contract.

Reflecting on the vote, union president Karen Aronowitz said teachers ``recognized the importance of moving forward.''

Said Superintendent Alberto Carvalho: ``I know that these have not been easy years and. . . that some people think it wasn't enough. But knowing where we are and where we've been, we as a community ought to feel proud of what we did.''

The new contract will last three years. Salaries and benefits will be renegotiated each year.

This year, teachers will receive an average 1.8 percent increase. The raises range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, depending on tenure.

Additionally, the starting teacher salary will be raised from $38,000 to $38,500.

HEALTH COVERAGE

As for health insurance, the district recently dropped United Healthcare as its provider. It is now a self-insured entity.

The school system will continue to offer a no-cost option for individual coverage. Still, because the price of health insurance increased dramatically from last year, some teachers may see the price of spousal or dependant coverage rise.

Several teachers have raised concerns that the increased costs will, in effect, ``cancel out'' their salary increases. In some cases, teachers with dependents will see their take home pay shrink by hundreds of dollars a month, despite the raises.

Broward teachers are still working without a contract this year, as the teachers union and the school district can't hammer out an agreement. The Broward Teachers Union wants an average 4 percent pay increase, which includes advancement for years of service. The district isn't offering any raise, but has offered to pick up the difference in employee health insurance.

Aronowitz, the Miami-Dade teachers union president, called the signed contract a strong foundation.

``This contract represents a valid, well-intentioned start,'' said Aronowitz. ``The United Teachers of Dade will continue to work on behalf of educators to build on this foundation.''

EXCITEMENT

Air Base Elementary teacher Patricia Fairclough-McCormick, who is also Miami-Dade's teacher of the year, said she screamed with excitement when she found out the contract had been signed.

``This has been a long time coming for us,'' she said. ``It's time for us to get adequately compensated for the job that we so passionately do.''

In other business, the board:

• Voted unanimously to close Charter on the Beach Middle School.

District officials said the Miami Beach middle school was not providing its students with a high-quality education. The school also had financial troubles.

Dozens of students and parents showed up in support of the school.

``Something is wrong,'' said parent Alfredo Martinez. ``A school that makes my daughter feel like a winner is being closed.''

• Approved a restructuring of the School Board attorney's office. The move will save the school system $50,000.

Miami Herald staff writer Laura Herrera contributed to this report.

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