LEBANON - Members of the Lebanon School Board decided by majority Monday that they have waited too long for a new contract for Sand Ridge Charter School but not long enough to hire assistant principals for Lebanon High School.

Board members voted 3-2 to continue the district's current contract with People Involved in Education, the private organization that runs the charter school, with a 10-item list of amendments as proposed by Vice Chairman Josh Wineteer.

Motions to hire two high school administrators failed for lack of a second.

Wineteer said he proposed his own amendments to the charter contract because he does not believe the school district's team, which has been in negotiations for three months, has been bargaining in good faith.

Rick Alexander and Debi Shimmin joined him in voting for the amendments, which now go to the PIE board for review.

Wineteer's amendments increase funding for the charter school from 80 percent to 85 percent of state funds for kindergarten through eighth grades, as long as PIE follows a list of obligations. That list includes making sure all teachers and administrators are properly registered, all schools have separate financial accounting systems and payroll records, and each school is insured.

The adopted plan also extends the contract through June 30, 2013, invites charter school staff to participate in district professional development activities and states that PIE is "legally authorized" to continue to operate other educational programs and charter schools.

A longstanding contention between PIE and school district officials had been that PIE develop separate legal entities to run its private preschool and its charter school in Sweet Home.

Wineteer had proposed raising the enrollment cap by 18 students but deferred to Shimmin, who suggested it remain at 280 to ward off budget complications for the rest of the district.

Chairwoman Sherrie Sprenger and board member Chris Fisher urged the three to wait until they could read the proposal - first unveiled at the meeting - and have it vetted by the district's attorney. Both protested being asked to vote on something with potentially far-reaching consequences virtually sight unseen.

Superintendent Jim Robinson and Assistant Superintendent Steve Kelley strongly encouraged the board not to divide the district's voice, particularly on the issue of legal separation. Teacher's union president Kim Fandino noted the plan still has budget implications and potential impact on other bargaining units.

But Wineteer said everything in his proposal has been discussed at length at various times and it is unfair to leave teachers and students in continual limbo about the coming year.

District officials questioned his reasoning later in the meeting when Fisher's motions to approve the hiring of Kim Masog, currently an eighth-grade teacher at Hamilton Creek School; and Tami Volz, currently the college-to-school coordinator at Mid-Willamette Education Consortium at Chemeketa Community College in Salem; both failed for lack of a second.

If approved, each would have overseen two of the high school's four academies. Both would have served at the high school under head principal Mark Finch, a reduction of the previous four administrative positions to three.

Committees made of teachers, classified employees and residents screened the candidates and made the recommendations.

But Alexander and Shimmin said they prefer to wait until more budget information is available before making administrative hiring decisions.

Robinson reminded board members that, by contract, personnel decisions are his responsibility and called the lack of action "micromanagement." Wineteer countered that the board's majority vote in March to not renew Robinson's contract indicates the board wishes to guide the district itself.

Administrators, too, need to plan for jobs and move forward with duties, Kelley said. He called the two "outstanding candidates that I cannot guarantee will be here in 30 days."