COEUR d'ALENE - With the help of a federal mediator, negotiating teams representing the Coeur d'Alene School District Board of Trustees and the local teachers union reached a tentative agreement on Thursday.

"Terms of the agreement are still being compiled and finalized," said district spokeswoman Laura Rumpler, in a message to The Press. "A contract is close to completion and both teams are pleased that district employees continue to focus on the great teaching and learning that is occurring daily throughout our schools."

No additional information was provided regarding the details of the tentative contract settlement.

The next step for the school board and the Coeur d'Alene Education Association - the local chapter of the state teachers union - is to ratify the agreement, Rumpler said.

The collective bargaining teams met 11 times - from May until Aug. 25 - before negotiations reached an impasse and both sides agreed to mediation.

Salaries and the cost of health insurance benefits were the main sticking points.

The school board's final offer included no base salary increase for employees. It did allow for salary increases for teachers and other eligible, certificate-holding employees based on years of service and continuing education.

The teachers union's last proposal called for a 0.9 percent increase to the salary base, and no change to the benefits package.

The board's final proposal called for district employees to share the burden of a $500,000 hike in the overall insurance premium. The district would pay $330,581 of the premium increase and the balance would be passed on to employees through a hike in office visit co-payments from $20/$40 to $30/$60 and an increased coinsurance responsibility from 20 percent to 30 percent.

The board also proposed lowering the district's contribution to the cost of family premiums from 69 percent to 67 percent.

Rumpler said both sides plan to schedule meetings next week to ratify the tentative agreement reached Thursday.