BOARDMAN — The union representing the school district’s teachers has a new three-year contract that includes no raises.

The Boardman Board of Education ratified the agreement at its meeting Monday. Boardman Treasurer Nicholas Ciarniello said there were many minor wording changes, but for the most part only had a few key items.

“There was no increase in the base salary, zero,” Ciarniello said. “With the difficult times we are in, it is hard to do anything with money.”

The zero increase in the base salary will be for the entire contract period of July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023.

“We were in negotiations during a pandemic,” he said. “We played the hand we were dealt.”

On the plus side, he said there would be no change in the health insurance and the allotted accumulative sick days would be raised from the present 280 days to 300 days.

Board member Jeffrey Barone said, “They (the BEA) came together and did the right thing.”

Approving the negotiated agreement with BEA were Boardman board members Barone, board President Victoria Davis, John Landers and Frank Zetts.

The board also approved placing two renewal levies on the Nov. 3 ballot. The first is the 6.0-mill current expense levy that was first passed in 1991. Ciarniello said that one brings in $3.4 million annually for the district.

The second is the 5.9-mill current expense levy that brings in $4 million and was first passed in 1996. Both levies would be for a five-year period that will first be collected in 2022.

jtwhitehouse@tribtoday.com