A teachers contract dispute in Palmerton Area School District is headed to a third party.

The Palmerton Area Education Association announced Wednesday it agreed to nonbinding arbitration after striking for two weeks in January."The Palmerton Area Education Association has continued to hold out hope that face-to-face negotiations with the Palmerton Area School Board would allow Palmerton people to solve Palmerton problems," association President Tom Smelas said. "Based on last month's school board meeting that also seems to be the wish of the Palmerton community. Sadly, it has become apparent that further attempts at productive negotiations will not be forthcoming."Palmerton's previous teachers contract expired June 30, 2016.The two entities last met Jan. 18 in a negotiating session that both sides said yielded no progress.Teachers would like to keep a salary schedule that the association said is used "in around 500 other districts in Pennsylvania."It includes increases of 3 percent, 4 percent, 4 percent and 5 percent to the total dollar figure of the contract over its four years.The district, meanwhile, offered to give every teacher a 3.25 percent increase each year and start new teachers at $50,000, around $7,000 more than they receive now.The PAEA contends its proposal would save taxpayers $5,000 over what the district is offering.According to a PAEA Facebook post, the district said on Feb. 9 it would independently file for fact-finding if the teachers did not agree to nonbinding arbitration or fact-finding by Thursday.Because it is nonbinding, either side could choose to accept or reject the findings.The district and PAEA will supply the arbitrators with its best final offers. The hearing and review process could take up to 60 days to complete."The PAEA negotiating team feels that by entering into this nonbinding arbitration, even though it brings in an outsider to attempt to solve our issues and there's no guarantee a contract will be secured, it's in the best interest of Palmerton community and the PAEA in an attempt to move this process forward," Smelas said.After going on strike Jan. 9, teachers returned to the classroom on Jan. 24, but announced it would be back on the picket line May 30 if an agreement was not in place.School district attorney John Audi did not return a call for comment before press time this morning.A board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, when the district will vote on a school calendar recommendation that adds the 10 days missed due to the strike to the end of the school year.