Granite School District teachers approved a contract calling for a 3.75 percent pay increase, a $250 bonus and employee contributions toward family medical insurance coverage.
The results of balloting among teachers in the state's largest school district, announced Friday by the Granite Education Association, were 79 percent in favor of the contract and 21 percent opposed.Association President Allen Rasmussen said he was not surprised at the vote even though Granite teachers had rallied to oppose any changes in their insurance benefits.
Negotiations between the district and the union stalled earlier this month over whether teachers would begin paying $5 a month for medical insurance for their spouses and $10 to cover their families.
After a session with a federal mediator, both sides agreed to offer those terms to teachers, but the district boosted the amount of the pay raise by 0.25 percent to cover the cost of the insurance.
And both sides also agreed to reduce the $300, one-time bonus the district had agreed to pay teachers out of surplus funds to $250 to help fund the additional pay increase.