Stonington — Board of Education Chairwoman Gail MacDonald said this afternoon that the board has reached a tentative agreement with the teachers union on raises and benefits in the fourth and final year of their current contract.

MacDonald said she could not yet release details of the deal because it has not been formally approved by the teachers and the school board.

She said that once a memorandum of understanding is in place, she would be able to discuss the details. She said she expects that to happen before the school's board's Nov. 8 meeting.

If the two sides had not reached an agreement, they would have entered arbitration today.

The current four-year contract calls for the two sides to negotiate raises and benefits for the 2013-14 school year.

Under the terms of the current contract, teachers worked without a raise in 2010-11, and received average raises of 2.8 percent in 2011-12 and 2.9 percent in 2102-13. Teachers have had the same co-payments and have paid the same amount toward their health insurance for the past four years.

j.wojtas@theday.com