LEWISTON – There were likely some smiling Lewiston teachers Wednesday when they opened their paychecks.

The paychecks were bigger, some several hundred dollars more, because teachers received back pay from the months they worked without a contract.

And in the paychecks they’ll receive Feb. 14, teachers will see a 3 percent cost-of-living raise, Lewiston School Department Human Resources Director Tom Jarvis said Wednesday.

On Monday night, the Lewiston School Committee unanimously approved a three-year contract for teachers. They received the 3-percent raise, plus step raises, Jarvis said.

The cost-of-living raise means the annual salary for a beginning teacher increases from $30,000 to $30,900; a teacher with 15 years experience will see a boost from $48,758 to $50,220.

The contract will cost taxpayers an extra $1.8 million over three years, Jarvis said.

The contract requires that taxpayers and teachers share costs for rising health care, but caps taxpayer costs, Jarvis said. If health care costs increase to 13 percent, teachers and taxpayers split the bill. If health care costs go over 13 percent in any of the three years, teachers will pay for costs over that 13 percent, Jarvis said.

The cost for health care going as high as 13 percent would be $900,000, Jarvis said, adding “that’s the worse-case scenario” and is unlikely. “This year health care is up 5 percent,” he said.

Muffett Dulac, co-president of the Lewiston Education Association, said Jan. 19 that teachers were happy with their contract, calling it “very fair.”

Lewiston teachers had been working without a contract since August. Frustrated by a lack of progress in negotiations between the union and school officials, teachers staged a silent protest in November, holding signs during a School Committee meeting. At that point city negotiators were offering a 1.9 percent cost-of-living raise, but teachers wanted more.

On Jan. 18 Lewiston teachers overwhelmingly approved the contract, followed by the School Committee’s approval.

– Bonnie Washuk