The Howard County school board and educators union announced a tentative agreement last week that would determine teacher salaries for the next two years if ratified by members and incorporated in the county budget.

“That's the thing that we really wanted to lock in for our members,” said Paul Lemle, president of the Howard County Educators Association, which represents nearly 5,000 teachers, pupil personnel workers, psychologists and counselors in the county schools. “Say somebody's budgeting for that house or car. Now they know what their pay is for the next year, and what their increases are.”

If ratified by the Board of Education and union members, the agreement would give educators a step increase in both the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years.

Voting by union members began Wednesday and continues through March?22, Lemle said. The school board could vote on the agreement March 24.

The deal was the product of three months of negotiations. With the 0.5?percent cost-of-living increase proposed in the agreement, starting salaries for Howard teachers would be $47,588 to $59,859, depending on educational attainment.

According to data from the Maryland Department of Education, the starting salary for a teacher in Howard County with a bachelor's degree and standard professional certificate for 2014-2015 was $47,351. In Anne Arundel, the starting salary was $44,991, in Carroll $40,400, in Baltimore County $43,000 and Montgomery $47,106. Some of those counties have entered into talks or approved new contracts.

Howard school board Chairwoman Christine O'Connor said Wednesday that the panel's priority is meeting the needs of students and employees.

“It is the reason we increased the budget to meet the needs of our growing student population, and to support our school system as a whole,” she said.

On Feb. 23, the board approved an $856.4?million operating budget for the 2016-2017 school year, including $26.8?million for salary increases.

The budget represents an $80.1?million increase over the current operating budget and must be approved by the county executive and County Council.

County Executive Allan H. Kittleman is formulating his budget for the coming year. A session to gather public comment will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at the George Howard Building, 3430 Court House Drive in Ellicott City. Kittleman will submit his budget plan to the County Council next month.

While neither Kittleman nor the council has indicated whether they would approve the school budget, Council Chairman Calvin Ball said, “As an educator, mediator, council member and, most importantly, father of two children in our schools, I commend all parties on an agreement that supports our valued educators.”

In addition to implementing salary increases for the next two years, the agreement between the association and the school board would compress the pay scale for teachers so that they reach their highest level of pay after 25 years of teaching, instead of 29 years.

“There are significant improvements for lifetime earnings,” Lemle said. “Nobody gets rich teaching, and they certainly don't see huge one- to two-year increases, so we worked to improve the scale throughout a whole career.”

The compressed scale would potentially improve teacher pensions, which are based on their highest, three-year consecutive pay. Teachers in Maryland are eligible for retirement after 30 years of service, according to state law.

“On our new scale, you hit the highest pay at 25 years of service,” Lemle said. “After 28, you've worked at it for three years, so when you can become eligible for retirement, it will improve your pension calculations.”

Lemle said the agreement makes the county more competitive with neighboring school systems, in terms of attracting the best educators.

“This isn't a gift from their employer,” he said. “This is well-earned by people who really deserve the improvement.”