Classes resume this morning for the 520 students in the Duquesne School District after teachers and the administration reached a tentative settlement yesterday on teachers' wages for the 2008-09 school year.

Teachers had walked off their jobs Tuesday after demanding a 19 percent pay raise during negotiations on a wage reopener in their contract. District administration had offered a 3 percent increase.

But after two hours of negotiations yesterday morning at the headquarters of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which is managing the district, the two sides had an agreement.

Neither the union nor the administration would release details of the agreement pending its formal approval by the state board of control that oversees the district, which now serves students in kindergarten to eighth grade. That approval is expected to come at the next board meeting on Sept. 23.

Members of the Duquesne Education Association, which represents 49 full-time teachers and one part-time teacher, ratified the agreement yesterday, said Butch Santicola, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

Tom Sturm, communications director for the teachers union, said the union "did not reach parity" with other districts in the agreement and did not keep up with inflation.

Union officials said that Duquesne teachers, with an average annual salary of about $44,000, are the lowest-paid in Allegheny County. A 19 percent increase would have brought them close to the wages in the Clairton School District, the second lowest-paid teachers in the county.

"It was a tough meeting. It was very difficult and very emotional," Mr. Sturm said of yesterday's session.

Though the teachers didn't get all they wanted, Mr. Sturm said, "in the interests of getting the kids back in the building, we have come up with an agreement."

The strike came just a week after AIU officials released a report that indicated Duquesne students' scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests fell far below the state requirements in math and reading and that some scores had dropped from the previous year.

Teachers union officials noted their contract runs through the current school year and said that they expect negotiations to start on a new contract in January.

In a related matter yesterday, Commonwealth Court issued a 5-2 ruling that upheld the state Department of Education's decision last year to transfer high school students from Duquesne to West Mifflin and East Allegheny schools.

The state board of control closed Duquesne High School in June 2007, and a month later, the Legislature approved a plan by the education department to send Duquesne students to neighboring districts of West Mifflin and East Allegheny on a tuition basis.

About two-thirds of the 200 Duquesne high school students went to West Mifflin and one-third to East Allegheny. That arrangement continues this year.

The West Mifflin and East Allegheny districts filed suit in Commonwealth Court contending the legislation that permitted the transfers was unconstitutional because it applied only to Duquesne.

West Mifflin Solicitor John Cambest said he expected to discuss with the school board at its meeting Thursday whether or not to file an appeal on the issue with the state Supreme Court, though he added that the intent of the lawsuit was not to dismantle the arrangement.

"This was very hastily done. It was passed in July and we had to gear up in August," he said. "There are issues that have to be looked at."

East Allegheny Solicitor Dan Beisler could not be reached for comment.

Michael Race, deputy press secretary for the state Department of Education, said officials in his department are pleased the court sided with them and he commended the districts for serving the Duquesne students.

"The former Duquesne students have enjoyed educational opportunities they never would have been afforded without this arrangement. The ruling will allow the three communities -- Duquesne, West Mifflin and East Allegheny -- to continue the successful, collaborative relationship they have had," Mr. Race said.