As promised, the Hawaii State Teachers Association has dropped its prohibited-practice complaint against the state over the "last, best and final offer" contract imposed on teachers in July 2011.

The Hawaii Labor Relations Board approved the request Tuesday, officially ending the teachers’ two-year labor dispute with the state.

As part of the new 2013-17 contract that teachers overwhelmingly voted to approve last month, the teachers union had pledged to withdraw the complaint — a concession some teachers called disappointing.

Over nine months in 2011-12, the HSTA’s legal team argued and pushed its case before the labor board, claiming the state violated members’ collective bargaining rights when it unilaterally imposed a contract that saddled teachers with a pay cut and a larger share of health insurance premiums. Hearings in the prohibited-practice case ended last May, but no ruling was made.

The union turned to the Hawaii Supreme Court to protest the board’s delay in making a ruling, but that effort failed. The HSTA again petitioned the Supreme Court in January to compel the board to issue a decision, but that bid was denied. Similar lawsuits were unsuccessful in Circuit Court.

Union officials would not say how much has been spent on the complaint, but some have privately estimated legal costs at upward of $700,000.

The union’s attorneys had sought to withdraw the complaint without prejudice, which would have allowed HSTA to bring the same claim again in the future.

But the state’s attorney objected to that move.

Labor board Chairman Jim Nicholson agreed with the state, allowing the case to be withdrawn, but with prejudice, meaning HSTA cannot refile the complaint. He wrote that there was no basis to dismiss the complaint without prejudice.

"This case is closed," Nicholson wrote.