KARNS CITY — There's no teacher contract in the Karns City School District.

The teachers in the district Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected a report that could have formed the basis of a new contract. The school board on Monday accepted the report.

The report, prepared by a state-appointed fact-finder, attempted to settle the differences between the school board and the teachers on five issues. The 125 teachers in the district are working under the terms of a contract that expired June 30.

There's one more shot at getting a contract, though. Because the teachers rejected the report, both sides are required to wait five to 10 days and vote again. If during the second round of voting, both sides approve the report, it becomes a contract.

If the report is rejected by either side, that option is scrapped and the negotiating committees go back to the table.

Chris Bellis, a Karns City teacher, said "nearly all" teachers participated in Wednesday's voting.

"We were hopeful after 15 months of negotiating that the fact-finder report would result in a settlement," he said.

The problem, he said, was the fact-finder did not include any early retirement incentive in his award.