WEST PALM BEACH — Less than two months before she is scheduled to be tried for an alleged sexual relationship with her fourth-grade student, music teacher Carol Lynn Flannigan has been offered a plea deal that would send her to prison for five years, sparing her a possible life sentence.

Flannigan, 49, of Boca Raton, and her attorneys have until Tuesday to decide whether to accept, or else the offer will be rescinded, prosecutor Jennifer Millien said.

The five years are in addition to nearly two years in which Flannigan has been under house arrest.

"She'll in essence do seven," Millien said.

If Flannigan accepts the deal, her prison term will be followed by 10 years of sex offender probation.

That would result in her being included on an Internet database of registered sex offenders.

It also would require her to adhere to a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, would prohibit her from having contact with children under 18 and bar her from living less than 1,000 feet from a school or other place where children congregate.

Flannigan was arrested in January 2004 and charged with sexual battery on a person less than 12 years of age and lewd or lascivious battery.

If convicted at trial of the first charge, she would be sentenced to a mandatory life sentence with no parole, Millien said.

The second charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, she said.

Flannigan is accused of having an 18-month sexual relationship with one of her students beginning when he was 11 years old. He is 15 now.

The plea offer was disclosed during pre-trial motions that were argued before Circuit Judge Lucy Chernow Brown.

Flannigan's trial is scheduled to begin April 4.

Her home insurance carrier settled a civil suit against her for $1.5 million. Other lawsuits are pending.