The Youngstown Education Association, the union for 450 district teachers, approved the contract with the Youngstown Board of Education on Friday, avoiding a back-to-back strike within the district.

Teachers overwhelmingly approved the two-year contract with a vote of 135 for the contract and 55 against it, with one abstention. The new contract essentially continues the contract deal from 2023 with some new provisions.

"We all wanted to avoid another strike," said YEA spokesman Jim Courim. "It was probably only about a month of negotiating, so it went a lot smoother this time."

The teachers will receive 2.5 percent on July 1 and another 2.5 percent on July 1, 2025, and will run through June 30, 2026.

The insurance premium costs, the amount paid by each employee for insurance, will be 10.5 percent in 2024 and will increase to 11 percent for the second year of the contract.

"We're very happy with what we have," Courim said. "We were able to get some things accomplished this time and in two years' time, we'll look at some other issues that may arise over the next two years."

Other changes to the contract include a reduction in the number of consecutive days an employee can be off sick without a doctor’s note from five days to three days.

Also added is a line that employee discipline is to be done in private within the bounds of Ohio law; however, this would need to be provided to anyone if a records request is received.

The administration will not place anonymous source tips in personnel files, and the district will notify an employee if files are requested or inspected by anyone other than district administration or members. However, the employee will no longer be required to present for the request public record to be read.

Also approved at the meeting was a Memorandum of Understanding between the district and teachers updated language involving K-3/PK-3 teachers.

The district said in a statement "Youngstown City Schools is pleased to announce that the contract with the Youngstown Education Association (YEA) has passed, and the Board of Education will vote to ratify it at this Tuesday’s, April 23 meeting. The Board and District are thankful to the YEA. We express our gratitude for this collaborative effort which in turn will support scholar success. As the Board has not yet ratified the contract, no additional details are available at this time."

Courim added "that's the only way that they (the scholars) can really, truly learn, is to be in the classroom, so I think we wanted to be able to start earlier and get this done as quickly as possible."

The contract is expected to be ratified Tuesday, April 23.

Teachers in the district were on strike for 25 days during the beginning of the 2023-24 school year before reaching a deal.