The Teacher Incentive Allotment, which is funded by House Bill 3 in 2019, has been implemented in districts across the state as a pathway for teachers to earn a six figure salary, according to the TIA website.
About 52% of FBISD teachers would be eligible for the program because they teach subjects that have student growth assessments in place, Chief of Organizational Development Stephanie Williams said.
“The key to cohort one is that they have a valid and reliable assessment that is already in use,” Williams said. “Parallel to that work of designing cohort one, we began to explore feasibility for other cohorts of teachers to enter into the [TIA] system.”
The context
The incentive program comes shortly after officials reported in March that FBISD wouldn’t be able to fund pay raises for teachers based on the projected $16 million shortfall for fiscal year 2025-26. This is due to FBISD officials anticipating increased contracting costs associated with inflation and opening two campuses this fall.
That gap would rise to $24 million if district officials consider a 2% pay raise for teachers, they said.
“It is not currently feasible to do a raise without the state doing something to change public education funding or the district making dramatic cuts in order to do that,” Chief Financial Officer Bryan Guinn said at the March 4 board meeting.
The last time FBISD teachers and staff received a pay raise was after the November 2023 voter-approval tax rate election raised the starting salary and differentiated teacher step raises every five years of service, Community Impact reported.
“The good news is [the TIA] is 100% funded by the state, and so there are no local funds that have been spent on this program,” Guinn said.
Moving parts
Per TIA requirements, FBISD will use the Measurement of Academic Progress test as the student growth measure and the existing teacher observation models to assess a teacher’s designation, Williams said.
FBISD will also incorporate the data showing school-wide performance growth for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exam, Williams said.
Teachers can receive the incentive through a local designation or National Board Certification, which automatically qualifies teachers as “recognized,” Williams said. Currently, there are 15 nationally certified teachers who receive the allotment at FBISD.
A teacher's allotment amount is determined by the designation level and the percent of economically disadvantaged students at the campus, according to the TIA system.
Under the system, the:
- Top 33% of teachers, known as “recognized,” will receive a $3,000-$9,000 pay bump annually
- Top 20% of teachers, or “exemplary,” will get $6,000-$18,000
- Top 5% of teachers, or “master” designation, will get $12,000-$32,000
Williams said cohort one was selected because the courses have established pre-and-post-assessments, including the following positions:
- Elementary school: math (kindergarten-fifth grade), English language arts (kindergarten-fifth grade), science (third-fifth grade)
- Middle school: math, English language arts, science
- Secondary: ELA I, ELA II, algebra I, algebra II, geometry and biology
- Special education teachers with students rostered to them who have MAP student growth scores
What trustees are saying
Trustee Angie Hanan said the TIA might encourage some teachers to retire earlier because the average salary is determined by a teacher’s five highest-paying years, according to TRS documents.
“That might also inspire folks to retire early, because they get that [average] up,” Hanan said.
Trustees expressed concern that TIA evaluation may place a burden on teachers and students. However, Williams said that the teachers in cohort one are already conducting the assessments without the TIA evaluation.
“The [only] additional work is the data submission at the district level for the teacher,” Williams said.
Trustee David Hamiton said that the TIA would allow teachers to not have to consider pursuing the administrator route or leaving the district for a more competitive salary.
Zooming out
Williams said most neighboring districts have been approved for the TIA with the exception of Lamar Consolidated ISD, who also submitted their application prior to the year’s April deadline.
Katy, Pearland, Conroe and Houston ISDs are currently in or have completed their data capture year, according to the TIA website. Meanwhile, Humble, Klein, Spring and Tomball ISDs have fully-approved designations.
Next steps
Tassin also asked FBISD administration to present preliminary plans for future cohorts and the steps the district will implement to capture student growth data, in particular for special education teachers without rostered students or for students who cannot take online tests.
The district will be notified in August if their application is approved, according to the TIA website.
Williams said that if accepted funds will be paid to cohort one teachers in August 2027.
