HALIFAX -- The Nova Scotia government says it has reached a tentative contract agreement with about 9,000 unionized public school teachers.

The province says no details will be released until the agreement is ratified by members of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.

Education Minister Karen Casey says the sides worked hard to reach a deal that is "good for teachers and students."

The new deal follows a vote held last November, in which the teachers rejected a four-year tentative deal that proposed a wage increase of three per cent over four years, but started with a wage freeze in the first two years.

Sixty-one per cent of the membership who voted turned down the deal after it had been recommended by the union.

The last contract expired on July 31, 2015.