BUFFALO, N.Y. – A new three-year contract between the Buffalo Teachers Federation and Buffalo Public Schools eliminates a controversial provision for taxpayer funded plastic surgery for union members while increasing pay by 14 percent.

“The biggest victory is that we reached a contract,” the BFT’s infamous president, Philip Rumore, told The Buffalo News. “Now, perhaps, we can start talking about kids, rather than contracts.”

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Rumore’s comments are ironic considering that the BFT has steadfastly refused to agree to reasonable contract terms for the last 12 years, which represents “the longest contract stalemate in the history of public sector collective bargaining in New York,” according to the news site.

One of the major sticking points in negotiations has been a provision in the expired teachers contract, which by law remains in place until a new one is crafted, that awarded BFT members free plastic surgery, courtesy of taxpayers.

That provision has cost BPS $5 million a year.

“I thought we’d never get this done,” Hutchinson Central Technical High School teacher Rick Leggio said.

Leggio believes the school district came out on top with the new pact, which was approved by a union vote shortly after the agreement was reached.

“They gained in this, in my opinion,” Leggio said.

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District officials praised the agreement, which is expected to cost nearly $100 million over three years. That figure comes from roughly $131 million in extra costs and $32 million in cost savings from concessions. The district currently has $65 million in reserves, The Buffalo News reports.

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“We want to have a new professional partnership with our teachers,” Superintendent Kriner Cash said after the vote. “Pay them competitively and fairly and make sure that they can do their best work – support them to do their best work – everyday. This agreement does that and more and we’re very excited about it.”

“It was rigorous, it was difficult,” he added. “It was a long journey to get to here.”

WIVB reports:

Under the new contract, the teachers will work more but will receive more pay.

The deal increases the length of each school day by 25 minutes and increases the length of the school year to 188 days, but it also includes pay raises for the teachers. Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore says the new contract will bring teachers salaries in Buffalo more into line with what teachers in the suburbs make – around $90,000 at the top end.

With the new contract, teachers will get a 10 percent pay bump in the first year of the three year deal, then 2 percent raises each year after that. They will also receive a one-time bonus between $2,000 and $9,000, depending on their step. That’s in place of the back pay the Buffalo Teachers Federation had fought for before.

The agreement also requires teachers to help pay for their own health insurance, though union officials convinced the district to go with a set dollar amount rather than a percentage of the expense.

BFT members will also receive four-figure bonuses – between $2,000 and $9,000 – that’s considered back pay for the last 12 years.

“All in all, it’s not everything everyone wanted,” Rumore told the News. “But I think it was a fair compromise.”

Other union perks included in the “compromise” included a bump in mileage reimbursement for teachers to 54 cents per mile, $6 per pupil and another $2 per pupil next year for teachers to buy school supplies, as well as a special $350,000 fund – as well as $25 per teacher – to cover dental and vision coverage for BFT members, the News reports.

In January, the News reported the Class of 2015 in Buffalo schools had a 61% graduation rate.