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<p>DALLAS TWP. &#8212; About 90 percent of the last two negotiation sessions between the Dallas School District and its union focused on health care, school board member James Gattuso said Tuesday.</p><p>And a state union leader called the health care issue &#8220;the key&#8221; to getting a new deal in place.</p><p>The Dallas Education Association and Dallas School Board met Oct. 11 and then again Monday to discuss the union&#8217;s latest health offer prepared by Millennium Healthcare Group, an independent broker. The proposal was given to the district Oct. 2, which marked the end of a teachers strike that started Sept. 22.</p><p>&#8220;We are continuing discussions on the DEA&#8217;s health care proposal,&#8221; Gattuso said. &#8220;Meetings have been very cordial.&#8221;</p><p>The 80-page proposal is based on the district&#8217;s health care claims and projects a savings of over $300,000 for the district, Michael Cherinka, union president, said earlier this month.</p><p>Teachers thus far have been reluctant to pay anything toward their insurance premiums.</p><p>Cherinka did not attend Monday&#8217;s negotiation meeting, but John Holland, of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, did and noted there is some &#8220;give and take&#8221; between the two parties.</p><p>&#8220;We are working on ways to reduce the insurance costs,&#8221; Holland said.</p><p>He added: &#8220;The key to getting the contract issue resolved is to resolve the health care issue.&#8221;</p><p>Gattuso said board members are looking to see how the health insurance program would fit into the district&#8217;s budget.</p><p>The board will hold an internal meeting Wednesday to review the new information before meeting with the union next week, Gattuso said.</p><p>&#8220;Another negotiation meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 26,&#8221; Holland said.</p><p>The Dallas Education Association has worked without a valid contract since August 2015. Negotiations, which began in 2014, reached an impasse on issues of salary, health care, pensions and early retirement.</p><p>As a result, the union went on a 22-day strike in November 2016, and the remainder of the 2016-17 school year was marred by threats of a second strike.</p><p>The stalemate continued into the 2017-18 term and led to another strike that covered seven school days.</p><p>The union has set a new strike date of Nov. 22.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Gattuso </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_Gattuso-James.jpg</photo0><caption0>Gattuso </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Eileen Godin</p><p>egodin@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Eileen Godin at 570-991-6387 or on Twitter @TLNews</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Negotiations on Dallas teachers deal focused on health care