BUFFALO, N.Y. – Buffalo teachers have received free plastic surgery, courtesy of taxpayers, for more than a decade as part of their teachers union contract, and school board members are poised to put an end to the $5 million annual expense.

The provision was included in a contract with the Buffalo Teachers Federation that expired in 2004, and state law requires the contract to remain in effect until a new one is ratified. District and union officials have spent the last 12 years negotiating without success.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

Faced with a nearly $12 million budget shortfall for 2016, a majority of school board members are expected to approve a plan tonight to balance the budget in part by unilaterally removing the cosmetic surgery rider from the union contract, the Buffalo News reports.

“We have figured out a way to use resources from this useless privilege that teachers have created for themselves and putting those resources back into the classroom,” board member Jason McCarthy said.

Board member Larry Quinn cited a state law that allows school boards to take “appropriate action” after extensive negotiations to reach an agreement are unsuccessful, WGRZ reports.

“I really feel this is a moral issue that goes beyond the legal constraints,” Quinn said. “And we are confident that a provision in the Taylor Law allows us to make this move despite the union’s objection to it.”

The move to eliminate the plastic surgery giveaway – which costs the district an estimated $5 million a year – is part of a broader plan to balance the district’s budget before the new fiscal year begins July 1. Other budget reductions would skim $2 million off $17 million budgeted for a New Educational Bargain turnaround plan, and reduce overtime by about $1.3 million, among other cuts.

BTF President Philip Rumore called the plan to funnel the plastic surgery money back into the classroom “absurd.”

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

“If their attorney doesn’t tell them this is problematic, then perhaps they should seek new council,” Rumore told the Buffalo News.

“When you make an agreement with somebody, which the board has done, they way to make changes to it is through negotiations and we’ve told them in negotiations that we’re willing to give it up,” Rumore told WKBW. “They think they can just take things out of the contract willy nilly and they can’t do that.”

Board member Barbara Seals Nevergold badmouthed the majority for attempting to take away teachers’ free plastic surgery, and said she plans to consult with the district’s attorney about the proposal.

“We already are very late in approving this budget. We’ve spent a lot of time on it and had staff review a lot of data … and this is a stumbling block, as far as I’m concerned,” Nevergold told the Buffalo News.

“This is grandstanding … because this group wants to go out as the majority that has made some difference,” she said. “They came in with a vision statement where they were going to make all these reforms, and essentially they didn’t do any of it. This is, ‘Look what we did so you can’t see what we didn’t do.’”

The board is set to discuss the proposal tonight at Waterfront Elementary School at 5:30 p.m.