Teachers in Lehighton Area School District have a new four-year contract starting next year.

Lehighton’s school board approved the pact with the Lehighton Area Education Association on Monday night by a 7-1 vote with William Hill the only dissenter.According to business manager Brian Feick, the contract calls for a 9.8 percent increase in district spending.The contract runs from Sept. 1, 2016, through Aug. 31, 2020.“The increase to teachers depends on what step they are on with our scale but ranges from about 2 to 3.5 percent,” Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said. “We looked at Palmerton’s new contract and Jim Thorpe’s new contract. What we came up with is a hybrid to try and be competitive in nature. When we are hiring, we are often pulling from the same candidate pool.”It’s the earliest in recent memory that Cleaver can remember wrapping up contract negotiations.“This is the first time in a long time for the district that we were able to get the contract approved ahead of time,” he said. “I have to give credit to the negotiating team for the school board and teachers. We knew where each other was at and where we wanted to go. It was a well-laid-out process. Both sides were concerned not just about the contract, but how we could make the district better going forward.”The Lehighton Area Education Association has already approved the contract.At October’s school board meeting, Dan Williams, Lehighton science teacher and vice president of the LEA, lauded the board for its efforts.“I fully support the vision you have for the district and believe we will reach the goal of becoming the best district around,” he added.As part of the contract, the district will offer a retiring teacher $21,000 over three years for insurance if they choose not to participate in Lehighton’s plan.“It’s a benefit to us to not have as many people to pay claims for on our insurance, so we are offering this program to them if they find an alternate plan,” Cleaver said. “It’s almost like what we do now with our current employees when we offer them a certain amount of money if they don’t take our insurance.“If a teacher retires and decides to use our insurance, they would not be awarded the money.”The board voted Monday to also extend that offer to teachers retiring at the end of the 2015-16 school year.The irrevocable notice of retirement must be received by Dec. 31, 2015.