Lampeter-Strasburg Education Association and Lampeter-Strasburg School District have reached a three-year agreement, more than a year before the current contract expires.

The education association ratified the agreement April 28, Superintendent Robert Frick said. The school board approved the deal at its meeting Monday, and announced it Tuesday.

Key points in the agreement include:

• Salary increases of an average of 4.0 percent in the 2009-10 school year; 3.9 percent in 2010-11 and 3.8 percent in 2011-12.

• Teachers will share in a larger portion of the cost of health benefits by increasing their contributions to the monthly premiums and paying greater co-pays for doctor's visits and medications.

Negotiations began at the end of October, Frick said. The major points in the contract had been worked out by February.

"It was a fairly easy process," he said.

While the agreement will officially take effect July 1, 2009, Frick said, some changes will take place in the 2008-2009 school year.

For example, he said, teachers may take 12 credits' worth of courses in a year.

Today, the educators may only take a limited number of those credits online. But starting in the 2008-09 school year, there will be no limits on how many of those credits may be taken online.

Education association president Calvin Esh said he was pleased with the outcome of the negotiations.

"I appreciate the hard work that the negotiations team and the school board put into working together toward an agreement in the best interests of our members and their ability to serve the students of the district," Esh said.

School board president James Byrnes expressed similar appreciation.

"I am pleased that we were able to reach an agreement that protects the interests of the taxpayers and treats the teachers fairly and appropriately so early in the process," he said.

"Our school district has an excellent board and teaching staff that were both willing to come to an early agreement," Frick added.

"That demonstrates that we can all work together to provide our children with a quality education."