TIA project explained

PERRIN – Teacher Incentive Allotment could potentially solve a lot of issues with teacher retainment, a real problem in many areas.

Only four percent of high school graduates have any interest in becoming a teacher with 46 percent of parents recommending to their children becoming a teacher, according to surveys provided by Region 9. Micky Wesley with Region 9 explained the program during Perrin’s regular school board meeting Nov. 30.

Wesley said many of today’s socio economic disadvantaged students are being taught by those with the least amount of experience which put many of the teachers in a bad situation before they started.

Wesley said the majority of teachers stay in for 3-5 years before getting out. Add to that the COVID epidemic and that even adds more stress to the problem.

“It’s hard to develop teaching skills only in 3-5 years,” Wesley said.

The Texas Commission on Public School Finance says salaries of $100,000 for teachers is one incentive to keep teachers at their most challenging campuses. Wesley said House Bill 3 raised minimum salaries across the state.

Teachers will now be rated by teacher observation and student performance. Recognized would now be in the 67th percentile, exemplary in the 80th percentile and 95th be considered a Master Teacher. Those ratings remain for five years, Wesley said.

Depending on their teacher rating, and whether they are on a high need or rural campus can depend on how much between a $3,000 and $32,000 increase per year. Last year the state paid out $40 million to 3,000 teachers in 26 districts. Locally, Wesley said teachers.

Teachers can also get this done by applying for National Board certification. That takes about 18 months and costs about $2,000, PWCISD Superintendent Cliff Gilmore said. If they pass the national board certification they are rated recognized on their campus no matter of their evaluation and student performance scores.

Of Region 9’s 32 districts, about 25 said they would like to be started. The district rates its teachers and develops a plan to be approved and what it plans on doing with the money. In some cases, teachers, don’t get the money they’ve earned and it’s put into a fund to help keep teachers through professional development, working with young teachers.

The process goes something like this:

Applications for district plans are due April 15, 2021 to Texas Education Agency which approves the plan sometime in the summer of 2021. Using 2021-22 collective data from the district, they recommend which teacher should be looked at by their scores.

“If there’s any sense of normalcy, next year there should be significant growth,” Wesley said.