Ten Nacogdoches ISD teachers have qualified for a Teacher Incentive Allotment designation in the first year of the district’s state-approved program.
The teachers were rated Recognized, Exemplary or Master through TIA, part of an initiative created by the Texas Legislature and designed to provide additional compensation for classroom instructors.
During the regular monthly board meeting on April 25, the 10 teachers were recognized by the district’s trustees. NISD teachers qualifying for TIA are: Monica Gryder, Mike Moses Elementary; Emily Drewery and Tamyla Taylor, both from Thomas J. Rusk Elementary; Reagan Reyna, McMichael Middle School; Jennifer Haveman, Rebecca Jaramillo, Andrea Howell, Jody Franks, Becky Martin and Anita Norman, all from Nacogdoches High School.
NISD Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Trujillo is grateful 10 teachers are receiving the additional compensation, which will be paid out by the state in August, but he says the program falls far short of adequately funding teacher pay in Texas.
“These are 10 outstanding teachers, and I’m thrilled for them,” said Trujillo. “They’re incredibly deserving of this honor and the extra compensation that comes with it.
"But these are not the only outstanding teachers at Nacogdoches ISD, and that should serve as a reminder that the TIA program, as designed by the state, falls well short of providing the kind of wide-ranging teacher compensation school districts need to recruit and retain quality staff like these teachers.
“While we do have some freedom to design our own plan, restrictions built into the state’s design limit its reach and not all of our best teachers benefit. I’m hopeful this is something that can be rectified by state legislators in coming years.”
The Teacher Incentive Allotment is intended to elevate the education profession by providing districts with systems and funding to recruit promising new teachers, retain their best teachers, and incentivize teachers to work in high-needs schools and difficult-to-staff positions.
The additional compensation teachers receive – which can range from roughly $3,000 annually up to around $31,000 – is paid by the state above and beyond the funding provided to school districts. A teacher qualifying for TIA is guaranteed to receive the additional pay for five years.
This is the first year teachers in NISD have been eligible to receive the TIA designation; the results announced last week are based on data from the 2022-23 academic year.
For the 2022-23 academic year, only STAAR-tested subjects were included in the district’s TIA plan. That will change as NISD moves forward, with more teaching departments becoming eligible for the program in subsequent years, said Harold Whitaker, NISD’s Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources.
In the Region 7 Education Service Center area that includes NISD, 30 districts have state-approved TIA systems in place, Whitaker said.