Striking Catholic high school teachers rejected what?s being called the last contract offer made by the Archdiocese of New York Tuesday.

Henry Kielkucki, of the Lay Faculty Association, says the contract just didn?t work. Kielkucki says even though salaries would have increased by 11 percent over three years, contributions to medical costs would have doubled by the end of the deal.

?We can't accept a contract that would in three or four years, lower the standard of living for our teachers,? says Kielkucki.

Teachers staged a two-day strike last week while Pope Benedict XVI was in New York. Even though it didn't bring about a deal, the union doesn't regret the job action.

The union hopes to get parents involved and inform them about ways in which tuition dollars are spent. The teachers? union claims those dollars are misspent on other employees in the archdiocese, not teachers.