Full-time New Caney ISD employees who are returning for the 2025-26 school year will receive a $1,000 retention incentive on their May 5 paycheck, district leaders said.

The overview

On April 21, NCISD’s board of trustees unanimously approved the retention incentives with trustee Beth Prykryl absent. The incentives are expected to cost about $2.3 million, said Christie Gates, executive director of human resources for NCISD.

The stipends will be funded by $4.3 million in state aid awarded to the district for the 2023-24 fiscal year to offset revenue lost due to a statewide increase in homestead exemption requirements, said Scott Powers, executive director of public relations for NCISD, via an April 22 email. General residence homestead exemptions offer taxpayers up to $100,000 exempt from school district taxes, according to the Texas Comptroller’s website.

The details

According to Powers’ email, to receive a bonus, full-time employees must:

• Be recommended and have signed a contract for the 2025-26 school year or—for full-time auxiliary and paraprofessional employees—have been recommended and signed a letter of reasonable assurance
• Be active employees in “good standing” as of the May 5 payroll cutoff date
• Not have submitted a resignation for the 2025-26 school year

Employees who resign after receiving a retention stipend, and without completing the 2025-26 school year, will have to pay the district back for the stipend, Powers said.

“We have some of the hardest working employees in NCISD ... the goal is to have them come back and complete next year with us and help us with our retention,” Gates said.

Also of note

NCISD will have about $2 million left after employee stipends are paid, Gates said April 21. She did not specify what those funds will be used for.