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CITY, ND – (NewsDakota.com) Teachers with the Valley City Education Association and the Valley City School District reached an agreement and approved a new contract for the new school year.

School board chairwoman Joyce Braunagel says the base salary increased by $700 dollars this year to $37,948 for first year teachers or a 2 percent to 6.55 percent increase for teachers based on their years of service.

Valley City Education Association president Karen Askerooth says the negotiated agreement appears to be a good one for teachers.

Personal leave for teachers with 10 years of service or less increased from 2 to 3 days. Personal leave for teachers with 11 years or more of service increased from 3 to 4 days.

But the maximum number of personal days that one may accumulate decreased from 8 days to 7 days under the agreement. Teachers with more than 7 days of personal leave will be compensated at a rate of $100 per day for each day exceeding 7 days.

Teachers, who are members of the military, shall be granted leave according to N.D.C.C. 37-01-25 when ordered to active duty. When on inactive military duty, teachers shall be granted up to five days of leave during each school year and will choose to pay for the cost of the substitute teacher or take a day of unpaid leave.

Valley City teachers have 14 days to sign the new contract for the 2016-2017 school year.