The Pearland ISD board of trustees visited the discussion of incentive pay at the Dec. 11 meeting.

The discussion was prompted by board direction to close the gap between advanced-placement incentive pay versus other incentive pay, as well as potentially cap how much a teacher can receive, according to the board agenda.

The board approved the merit plan presented but will decide on the amount allocated to teachers
and caps put on pay at a later date, as the board knows more about the 2019-20 budget.

The new formulas most notably work to lessen the gap between incentives for the state of Texas assessments of academic readiness, or STAAR, and career technical education and AP, as AP has traditionally been more highly rewarded. However, the board does not want to close the gap so much they completely devalue the work AP teachers put in, trustee Mike Floyd said.

Trustee Lance Botkin asked the district also work to reward teachers who do not teach AP, CTE or STAAR classes but may still contribute to the success of the student. The reason these teachers have not been rewarded so far is there is no concrete data to prove the benefits their work has produced, Assistant Superintendent Nyla Watson said.

"Incentive pay was never here for equity or effort. It was about accountability," Director of Advanced Academics Margo Gigee said.

Trustee Sean Murphy was also worried changing the incentive threshold for AP teachers could cause the district to lose some of its best teachers.