A three-year pact has been approved for teachers in the Northern Lehigh School District.

On an 8-0 measure, the school board on Monday approved the collective bargaining agreement, which calls for a salary increase in each of the three years. Director Robert Keegan Jr. was absent.The contract, which runs from Sept. 1, 2014, through Aug. 31, 2017, calls for salary increases of 2.10 percent in the 2014-15 school year; 2.40 percent in the 2015-16 school year; and 2.49 percent in the 2016-17 school year, which equates to an average on-scale increase of 1.01 percent.It also calls for an increase in the percentage of premium that teachers pay toward health care.Afterward Eric Schmidt, president of the Northern Lehigh Education Association, offered a brief statement."I'd like to say thank you to the board, (especially) in these tough economic times," Schmidt said. "It's good to see we were able to come up with something that was fair (for) both sides."Director Gregory Williams added, "The school board and education association are both proud of the fact that the contract was again settled without the need for outside fact-finding, mediation or arbitration."Superintendent Michael Michaels also expressed thanks to both parties for being able to iron out a new contract.In May of 2010, the board approved the teachers' current contract, which called for a 3.5 percent salary increase in each of the four years, or, an average increase of 2.4 percent, plus step increments.That contract, which runs through Aug. 31, called for increased teacher contributions to their health care based on a percentage of the monthly premium the district pays.