Portland’s Board of Education and the teachers union have reached agreement on a new three-year contract.

The contract, which is retroactive to Aug. 26, will include a 1.5 percent salary increase for teachers in the second and third years of the new contract. It was approved by the Board of Education at its meeting Tuesday night.

Another key provision includes capping the school district’s share of health care cost increases to 3 percent in each year of the contract.

“This collective bargaining agreement values and invests in our teachers, is fair to taxpayers, and provides predictable costs for the next three years,” Superintendent of Schools Xavier Botana said in a press release. “It ensures that our teacher compensation remains regionally competitive, allowing us to continue to attract the best and the brightest.”

More than 90 percent of teachers who voted supported the new contract, which will expire Aug. 25, 2019, said Portland Education Association President Suzette Olafsen.

“The new contract represents compromise and fairness. It recognizes the important work that educators do every day and their commitment to improving student achievement. The settlement of a contract for a three-year term with the district’s largest bargaining unit will provide stability,” Olafsen said.

It took the parties six months to negotiate the new contract.