TEMECULA -- Teachers and district officials made a small bit of progress on finding common ground to resolve their ongoing salary dispute after representatives from the two parties met for about two hours late Wednesday afternoon, a teachers union leader said.

"I am cautiously optimistic," said Brian Wixom, vice president of the Temecula Valley Educators Association. "At the last meeting we had, (the former superintendent) said this is our last, best and final offer, and (on Wednesday) they intimated there might be something out there."

But it remains to be seen what that something might be, Wixom said.

No dollar figures were exchanged, and the teachers union and Temecula Valley Unified School District officials have scheduled another meeting for March 31, he said.

District officials were unavailable for comment late Wednesday. Board President Barbara Tooker said Wednesday that although she had not yet been debriefed on how the meeting went, she was pleased to hear there were plans to continue talks.

"We are looking forward to continuing the conversation to get this resolved as soon as possible," Tooker said. "It's in the best interests of everybody."

Wixom said the planned meeting during spring break shows a certain resolve on both sides.

"We have wanted to get these negotiations over with, but we are not willing to sacrifice what we feel is right," he said.

This year's contract negotiations, which started last spring and have nearly reached the one-year mark, have been plagued with strife in recent months.

In January, more than 200 teachers called in sick on the same day, causing the high schools to shut down early. Two weeks ago, about 90 percent of the district's teachers "worked to rule," or only did what it is required of them in their employment contract.

And at recent school board meetings, many teachers have voiced their concerns about what they contend is a lack of respect from district officials and trustees.

The teachers union and district officials are negotiating for a three-year employment contract that began July 1, the start of this fiscal year.

They started the talks by working out a lot of issues unrelated to a salary offer. Union leaders said the delay on talking about salaries was done on behalf of district officials, who stated they wouldn't know what they could offer until a financial report was completed in December.

The district has now put two offers on the table, a one- and a three-year offer.

The one-year offer is a 4 percent raise for this fiscal year, retroactive to Jan. 1.

The three-year offer is a 4 percent raise for this year, retroactive to Jan. 1, a 4.1 percent raise the following year, and a 3 percent raise the year after that. Part of the offer also includes raising the health benefits cap by $750 annually in the coming two years.

Under the three-year offer, teachers who are eligible for step-and-column raises would receive an additional 6 percent to 16 percent salary increase in the next 18 months, district officials have said.

Step-and-column increases are annual pay increases based on education and number of years worked. About 50 percent of the district's teachers are eligible for those raises every year, and they are given in addition to the across-the-board raises.

District officials have also said that next year's raise could possibly be 5.1 percent if teachers are willing to give up elementary school preparation time and accept a per-diem rate when they choose to work programs such as Saturday school and summer school. That caveat is what many teachers said prompted the "work to rule" action this month.

Teachers are requesting cost-of-living adjustments that match what the state is expected to give the district for the next three years. The union has also called for thousands of dollars to be added to the teachers' health benefits cap over the next three years.

Both offers also mean trustees would have to cut programs from the classroom, and district officials have estimated as much as $2.1 million must be axed to balance next year's budget.

Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or jkabbany@californian.com.