A bill approved Wednesday in the state house would reduce the amount that schools across the state will have to contribute to cover a teachers' pension hike and the 165-member Hermitage Education Association wants to know how it will affect their contract negotiations.

"We're just waiting for their response to their new-found funds," said sixth grade teacher Paul Estock, and the chief negotiator for the teachers union in the school district's contract talks.

Hermitage School Board President Duane Piccirilli Monday referred to "another revenue source" that could affect negotiations after the board voted to ask the state for some relief from an expected 5.64 percent increase in the school's contribution.

Prior to the bill's passage this week, the district was struggling to find a way to come up with about $260,000 to cover the pension hike, and had publicly stated that it was part of the reason they were sticking to their guns when it came to contract negotiations.

With the new formula, the district's pension contribution is now about $63,000, which according to Hermitage School District Business Manager Eugene Fornadel is about a quarter of a mill, or about $4,000 more than they paid last year; $260,000 equals about 1.2 mills.

"That will be a factor, definitely. But there's a lot of financial concerns," Piccirilli said. "As stewards of the tax-payers dollars, we have to make sure about what we commit them to paying for the duration of the contract."

Piccirilli also voiced his concerns about district's pension contribution increasing in the next few years, calling the recent bill passage a "one-year Band-Aid solution."

"Just because there are more dollars to pay bills doesn't necessarily translate in dollars to pay salaries," he said. "At this point we just have to look at all the numbers. But I'm not saying its not going to make an impact on the negotiations."

Negotiations started in January 2001 and teachers have been working without a contract since July. Talks came to an impasse in March and as a result, teachers went out on the picket lines for seven days last month.

The breakdown in negotiations came when the two sides could not come to an agreement over the teacher's salary increase. The district offered $1,600 per year during the three-year contract, and the HEA requested $2,700.

The two sides, which have both chosen arbitrators, are now awaiting the date for non-binding final arbitration from the Pennsylvania State Labor Relations Board.

"Hopefully, this will help move the bargaining," said Estock.

"This is probably the first positive news we've heard on revenue in a long time. All of the districts have been in a crunch over this," said Piccirilli. "And honestly, I think that both sides want to resolve this."