JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley School District teachers Sunday officially sent contract negotiations back to mediation by voting down a state-appointed fact-finder's report a second time.

The school board took the same action at a meeting Friday.

"So we go back to bargaining at the table," said Patrick Andrekovich, Seneca Valley Education Association spokesman.

Discussion between the 580-member teacher's union and mediator Bob Lavery, appointed by the state School Boards Association, to set up a mediation schedule was to take place later today (Monday), Andrekovich said.

Tom King, chief negotiator for the district, said Friday he would also be in touch with the mediator this week.

Lavery was initially assigned to the district before the previous contract expired in June 2006.

Matthew Franckiewicz, with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, began fact-finding in June at the school board's request. His July 23 report, which both sides twice rejected, was an attempt to resolve issues surrounding teacher salaries, the health insurance plan, insurance contributions and early retirement.

The report recommended salary increases of 3.9 percent the first two years, 4.3 percent the third year and 4.7 percent the final two years of a five-year contract.

Using the average teacher's salary in 2005-06 of $54,949, those numbers represent about a $12,800 increase over five years, to about $67,820.

The school board had offered an annual 3.5-percent increase, or about a $10,300 raise over five years to about $65,260. The union requested between 6.8 and 7.3 percent annual increases, about an additional $22,100 over five years, to about $77,069.

Following the school board's initial rejection of the report, King sent the teacher's union an alternative proposal that called for 4-percent salary increases each year for 5 years, to about $66,853.