Texas Border Business
PHARR, Texas – Over 375 Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD (PSJA ISD) educators have been awarded a prestigious Texas Education Agency’s Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA). This initial group of educators received the notification and will be the first to be part of the incentive program aimed at providing outstanding teachers an accessible pathway to a six-figure salary. As a TIA Designated school district, PSJA ISD will be awarded over $5 million per year to incentivize outstanding teachers with an accessible pathway to earn six-figure salaries.
TIA was created in 2019 by House Bill 3, a comprehensive public school funding bill passed by the 86th Texas Legislature created to recognize effective teachers. The program provides a pathway for high-performing teachers to earn six-figure salaries while enabling districts in rural and high-needs areas to recruit and retain highly effective teachers on their campuses.
According to TEA, for districts to be approved for a Local Designation System, they must undergo a multi-year application process. The process starts with system development and an application that must pass statutory and regulatory requirements, followed by a full year of implementation to capture teacher performance data. Districts then submit their data to be validated by Texas Tech University and holistically reviewed by TEA for full system approval.
PSJA ISD submitted an application in 2021 under Cohort D and most recently was approved for the 2022-2023 Teacher Incentive Allotment designations based on 2021-2022 teacher effectiveness data. The district’s Local Designation System was developed through efforts led by a PSJA ISD TIA Stakeholder Committee consisting of campus teacher representatives, principals, parents, community, Board Members, Superintendent, and other district leaders who collaboratively developed the district designation standards, which are more rigorous than those established by the state with the goal of improving student performance.
Designations are distinctions awarded to highly effective teachers. There are three levels of designation: Recognized, Exemplary, and Master. Designations are awarded to teachers through a district-local optional teacher designation system. Teachers with an active National Board certification may be designated as Recognized by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). PSJA ISD will receive an annual allotment for each eligible designated teacher they employ.
- Recognized ($3,000-$9,000)
- Exemplary ($6,000-$18,000)
- Master ($12,000-$32,000)
“Congratulations to our first group of outstanding educators who received this designation,” said Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Dr. Rebecca Garza. “While they are the first group of PSJA ISD educators to receive this prestigious designation, our goal is to increase the designations of our high-performing teachers. If teachers didn’t receive a designation this time around, we encourage them to continue working hard as every year data will be analyzed for this purpose.”
Educators who earned a Recognized or Exemplary Designation this year can continue improving to move up a designation level each year.
“Receiving this designation as a district shows that we care for our staff and we want the best for them which includes increases in their salaries,” said Interim Superintendent of Schools Dr. Alejandro Elias. “On behalf of our School Board and Administration, congratulations to all teachers who received this designation.”
