Detroit ? Teachers voted Wednesday to end their more than two-week strike and pave the way for Detroit’s 130,000 students to return to their classrooms today, seven school days late.

The union’s executive board approved a tentative three-year contract Tuesday, and teachers voted Wednesday to return to work while the ratification vote takes place by mail.

The financially struggling district initially sought a 5.5 percent pay cut over two years, part of $88 million in concessions it wanted from the 7,000 teachers and 2,500 other unionized professionals. The district has a $1.36 billion budget and is trying to close a $105 million deficit.

The union wanted raises after years without them.

The two sides eventually agreed on a one-year pay freeze, followed by increases of 1 percent the second year and 2.5 percent the third. Veteran teachers will start paying 10 percent of their health insurance costs, something that only those hired since 1992 had been doing.

“Both sides didn’t get everything they wanted,” Supt. William Coleman told reporters. “The fact that we’re both unhappy shows that there was real compromise.”