Saskatchewan teachers have reached a deal with the government after negotiations.

The teachers were opposing a 3.67% wage cut, and could not reach a deal with the government on their new contract, and a third party had to be consulted for arbitration.

The result of said arbitration was that the pay cut was denied, and the teachers will receive a 1% pay raise in the second year of their two-year contract.

Pat Maze, Saskatchewan Teachers Federation President, said that while the raise might sound impressive, it definitely leaves something to be desired.

"Effectively no raises until the very end of the contract with a one-per-cent (raise) which won't even keep up with inflation, but at the same point, (it's) a bit of a relief in relation to the government-proposed 3.67% cut."

Something else that was on the bargaining table for teachers was class size composition, which is something they would like to see down, but no such deal was reached.

"Education funding has been cut over the last few years," said Maze. "With those budget cuts means higher class size, which means that teachers can't get around to students and deliver as effective instruction to students."

Maze also said that he felt the way that the negotiations went was regrettable.

"Well, it's unfortunate that it had to go to arbitration, the best-case scenario would be government sitting down and openly negotiating the terms, as opposed to just sticking to a 3.67% cut, not once was it even a 3.6% cut, or a 3.5% cut, the entire process they stayed with their offer of -3.67."

Speaking on how the government handled themselves during negotiations, Maze said he was concerned about the Saskatchewan education system's future.

"They have to make sure that they accept their responsibility to fund education appropriately, we know that we have 5,000 new students in Saskatchewan over the last two years, and yet we're still dealing with $24 million short in our budgets, and obviously new students with less money means fewer teachers able to get around and fewer supports for those students."

The negotiated deal covers the period of September 1, 2017, to August 31, 2019.