Teacher Incentive Allotment Overview
House Bill 3 (HB 3), passed by the 86th Texas Legislature in June of 2019, established a program, the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA), to provide funding to districts willing to develop local designation systems for identifying high-performing teachers. Employing designated teachers generates extra funding for districts to reward and retain top performers. TIA elevates 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. Through TIA, teachers in high needs areas have an accessible pathway to a six-figure salary.
This pathway to pay increases starts with a designation. Teachers earn designations through two different routes. First, National Board Certified (NBCT) teachers are eligible to earn a Recognized designation, and any certified teacher can work on NBCT. Second, districts may adopt a local designation system that rewards effective teachers based on the approved TIA application. The multi-step approval process includes the submission of a system application to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and then a data validation process through Texas Tech University. Through the local designation system based on student growth and teacher performance data, districts identify effective teachers and designate them on three different levels: Recognized, Exemplary, and Master. Each of these designations earns allotments for the teacher's campus and district. Designations remain valid for five years as long as the designated teacher remains in a student-facing role.