BELLINGHAM - Bellingham teachers agreed to a three-year contract with the Bellingham School District Tuesday morning, Sept. 6.

Nearly 600 Bellingham Education Association members voted on the proposed contract Tuesday, with almost everyone agreeing to it, according to a press release from the BEA.

Bellingham teachers voted to go on strike Aug. 31, the day the previous contract expired. The one-day strike happened Friday, Sept. 2; a tentative contract agreement was reached that evening.

School starts Wednesday, a day late because of the strike. The first early release day for elementary school will be Sept. 14.

The Bellingham School Board is scheduled to discuss and possibly approve the three-year contract on Thursday night, Sept. 8. The board will meet in executive session before and after its regularly scheduled meeting at 7 p.m.

Until the school board approves the contract, the Bellingham School District will not release details.

According to the BEA press release, the contract includes:

• Additional time for teachers for "district-required elementary school assessments."

• Time for teachers to work together to learn about the district's new report cards.

• "An academic calendar which has been confirmed by BEA members as well as district administrators and the school board."

• The school district will pay for the 1.9 percent salary reduction that the state Legislature enacted for all public school teachers.

No other details were released by the BEA, and president Shirley Potter couldn't be reached Tuesday.

During the strike and contract negotiations, Potter said the sticking points were related to class sizes, the amount of professional development time for teachers, and the lack of early release days in the calendar for elementary and middle school parent-teacher conferences.

Statements from the school district indicated most of the discussions were about compensation.

School district officials plan to release details about the contract, as well as an updated 2011-12 calendar, on Friday.