The Copley-Fairlawn Board of Education has approved a 3-year contract with its teachers association that includes salary freezes and no state step increases.

The teachers’ new contract will go through June 29, 2014. The Copley Teachers Association ratified the agreement Thursday afternoon. The board approved it in a special meeting that evening.

No changes to health care were made in the new contract. Step increases are built into the state’s minimum teacher salary based on a teacher’s education and years of experience.

Superintendent Brian Poe said the teachers made “major concessions” in trying times for education institutions. “I really commend the teachers association,” he said. “They really stepped forward.”

Windy Lewis, president of the Copley Teachers Association, did not return a request for comment.

Administrators also received new contracts and pay freezes.

Following an executive session Tuesday, the board approved contracts with pay freezes for Poe, Assistant Superintendent Aaron Sable and Treasurer John Wheadon.

The superintendent and assistant superintendent's new contracts will go through July 31, 2015. Wheadon’s new contract goes from Aug. 1, 2012 through July 31, 2017, a five-year pay freeze.The previous contracts for Poe and Sable that were to end July 31, 2013, were eliminated for the new ones.