The Teacher Incentive Allotment is an optional part of House Bill 3, passed in 2019, and is intended to provide a pathway for effective educators to earn higher salaries, to attract and keep effective educators, and provide incentives to teach at the most challenging campuses.

It is funded entirely by the State; however, districts are tasked with creating a local designation system to identify high performing educators, based on standards to be released by the TEA. The law requires a system to have two components, teacher observation and student performance, and each district has the discretion to decide the type of rubric used for teacher observation and the measures to be analyzed for student performance along with the option to include additional factors.

Whether a district decides to implement a designation system or not, if the district currently employs a Nationally Board Certified teacher or hires an educator with a designation on his or her certificate from a previous school district that does have a designation system in place, the district will receive funding from the State to increase compensation on that teacher’s campus (a teacher is automatically designated if he or she is Nationally Board Certified, no matter the district of employment). EISD has decided to implement a program in an effort to make sure that all of our teachers have the same opportunity to access this state-funded stipend. 

EISD has formed a team that is in the early stages of exploring the possibility of creating a designation system. The team will engage with stakeholders, including teachers and campus leadership, to solicit feedback and input throughout the process.

To receive a designation, a teacher must be identified as a top-performing teacher per standards to be provided by the TEA. There are three designation levels: Recognized, Exemplary, and Master. The higher the designation, the higher the state stipend.

The District will decide whether a teacher earns a designation, and which designation they earn. The TEA, in partnership with Texas Tech University, will confirm the designation before any designation is awarded in EISD.

There is no limit; however, TEA expects that roughly the top 30% of teachers in the state would earn a designation of at least Recognized, roughly the top 20% would earn an Exemplary designation and roughly the top 5% would earn the Master designation.  It’s possible that a high-performing district may have a greater amount of designated teachers.

The current plan is to have a fully developed designation system by the end of the 2020-2021 school year.  The earliest the plan could be implemented would be the 2021-2022 school year, which would used to collect the data necessary to award designations.  Designations and state stipends would then be awarded in the Spring of 2023.

The approval program for a local destination system through TEA is robust and the development implementation of the system has been extended by one year.

EISD is in the early stages of exploring the possibility of creating a designation system so that all of our teachers can have the opportunity to earn a designation without having to rely solely on state tests. The State requires the designation system to include a teacher observation component and a student performance component. The TEA has given districts the option to include other components, and districts have the flexibility to build the program that best suits their needs. 

If a teacher is or becomes Nationally Board Certified, that teacher will automatically be designated beginning in 2020-21. 

EISD will not have a program in place until 2021-2022. This school year will serve as the data capture year EISD. Data will be reviewed by TEA, and designations and state stipends will be awarded in the Spring of 2023.

If a teacher decides to pursue a National Board Certification and completes the program during the 2020-21 school year, that teacher will receive the state stipend as early as 2021-22.

Teachers in EISD will not be required to participate.

The TEA is still determining eligibility requirements.

No. The State stipend is separate from EISD’s compensation plan.

The State stipend is funded by the State, and it will be paid separately. This will not affect the EISD salary schedule in any way. 

The State provides funding to districts based on a complex formula that varies depending on campus and distinction level.

The Teacher Incentive Allotment is written into law indefinitely; however, funding is appropriated every two years, when the State Legislature meets. Unless the law is amended to repeal the allotment, funding must be appropriated.