BRENHAM ISD PLANNING TO IMPLEMENT TEACHER INCENTIVE ALLOTMENT PROGRAM
Brenham ISD is taking steps to get involved in a state program that provides resources for performance-based compensation of teachers.
During today’s (Monday) Brenham School Board meeting, trustees learned about the district administration’s efforts to set up a local designation system through the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA), which is based in the Texas Education Code and provides districts with systems and funding to recruit, retain and reward teachers in high-needs schools and difficult-to-staff positions.
Chief Academic Officer Sara Borchgardt said the district is considering rolling out its implementation of TIA in stages over the next few years, given the prerequisites and data collection needed in order to be approved.
Through TIA, teachers can earn added compensation based on statewide performance standards of Recognized, Exemplary and Master. The three designation levels are determined by tracking teacher observation and student growth percentages. TIA funding varies by campus, as the state allocates funding based on factors like how much of the student population is economically disadvantaged or emergent bilingual, but it could lead to thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to go toward teachers who earn designation.
Borchgardt said Brenham ISD must be methodical with how it moves through the rollout process, since there are numerous validation checks. She said the district wants to avoid a situation where it ends up being too ambitious, spending a large amount of time and energy capturing data only to be rejected and have to start over again.
The district’s application for the TIA program is due April 15th. Borchgardt noted that the Texas Legislature is currently considering whether to expand the designation tiers to allow more teachers to be eligible, in addition to pumping in millions of dollars in extra funding.
Board President Natalie Lange asked if support staff would be included, to which Borchgardt replied that the personnel who qualify must be student-facing and working with students at least 50 percent of their time. Lange also asked if the administration and staff would be able to handle the increase in workload associated with gathering the necessary data. Borchgardt said it will be a collaborative effort by team members, but she is looking at software to assist with data input. She said, “It is a big job, but it’s one that we’re committed to doing.”
Also at today’s meeting, the board agreed to purchase instructional materials, including HMH Into Reading for grades K-2, HMH Into Literature for grades 9-10, and Bluebonnet Math for elementary and secondary. The district already utilizes HMH materials for grades 3-8 after purchasing them last summer. The purchases come from dedicated instructional materials allotment funding from the state and from federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) grant funds.
Additionally, trustees approved choosing two providers to implement two Texas Education Agency (TEA) Learning Acceleration Support Opportunities (LASO) program grants awarded to Brenham ISD. The district is receiving $140,000 through the Strong Foundations Planning Grant and $121,000 through the Instructional Leadership Grant; however, per TEA requirements, at least 50 percent of the Strong Foundations Planning Grant and at least 70 percent of the Instructional Leadership Grant must be allocated to TEA-approved providers.
The board selected Moak Casey as the provider for the Strong Foundations Planning Grant for $70,000. The grant supports the development of a district-wide, research-based instructional literacy framework. For the Instructional Leadership Grant, the board chose the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching in the amount of $90,750. The grant provides targeted training, implementation support and coaching to build leadership capacity at the campus and district levels.
Tim Webb is the puppet master and they are merely his marionettes.
Easier said than done. Dangle enough carrots with TIA, the new Bluebonnet curricula (which will incentivize districts who use it), possibly the new SPED bill that just passed the Senate…no district will turn down money. Many have taken their 30 pieces of silver in spite of their teachers and students, though they preach that the kids come first.
Brenham ISD needs to explain to the tax payers why Hempstead ISD and surrounding counties pay their teachers more .The STAAR scores fall shy of state marks .
Brenham ISD needs to explain to the tax payers why Hempstead ISD and surrounding counties pay their teachers more . We are loosing great teachers. The STAAR scores fall shy of state marks .
Because our tax rate is significantly lower than surrounding counties, and as such, we have less money.
What about the paras. They definitely aren’t paid enough.
Agreed. It’s also past due to have some tough conversations as a community and as a district. Your teachers are burned out because of increased paperwork, new and inflexible curricula, and the daily bad behavior and disrespect from both parents and students. They are tired of being ignored. They want to shout from the rooftops about all of this, but fear of retaliation keeps them from doing so. So they leave.
This will not work with all the politics in the schools, favoritism with win over and more good teachers will leave the district for others in the area that actually care about the teachers and offer a decent salary.
Wake up people, take a look at all the teachers leaving for other districts, you’ll learn when you can’t find good teachers anymore.
Most surrounding districts are already participating in the Teacher Incentive Allotment so I am glad to see Brenham ISD is joining. TEA has created this system to give teachers thousands of dollars who earn the incentive for high performance. Waller ISD has seen success.
Ok, so we will need to purchase software to help in deciding who gets more money….who will pay for this software? Will the funds for the software and additional “resources” come from the grant money allocated to paying the incentive to the teachers? Who gets to use the software to decide the incentive? How do we know if this will even be fair? It probably will not….another half-baked idea to shut us up and give their friends more power.
Most teachers do NOT want this. Not all teachers (SPED and electives) will have the same opportunity to receive the highest amount and it will create tension between department coworkers. Also, favoritism will definitely play a factor. There are too many politics already IN the schools and this is a very bad program if you want to create unity. It’s been said, but just increase the pay for ALL teachers. Teachers don’t get paid enough as it is to deal with the disrespect and lack of support we face daily. Parents need to parent but since most in the district don’t, it’s put on teachers and then they face the backlash. Just give teachers a raise, Brenham ISD, because you’re already losing a lot of good ones to other districts that actually DO pay them decently! When will the CO and School Board wake up???? Maybe if they got into schools and actually talked to teachers!
There is no doubt that TIA is fraught with issues and potential issues. However, what do you expect the District to do when the State is saying this is essentially the only path forward? Look at the current proposed legislation; there’s no money coming for an across-the-board raise of any significant amount. This incentive program is, by design, the only way for districts to even attempt to raise teacher salaries. It’s easy to blame CO and the Board, but not accurate. This failure starts in Austin.
I partly agree with you on the state failure, but I feel that it is more local. When the CO has positions created that are not truly needed or are created because the person should have been let go but wasn’t so they “create-a-space” for them, that is taking money away from your hard working teachers. There are many positions in CO that are useless and could be done by others. Also, you have CO positions that could have been used instead to fill a position ON a campus or at DAEP as the administrator there but instead campus administrators are pulled to fill the vacancy and take away from the schools that need them daily. Many of the CO positions are unnecessary and don’t do justice to the salary they are being paid. Again, go to the schools and actually talk to the teachers if you want to find out the truth of what is happening.
The district cannot afford raises until they raise the tax rate. The voters will not let that happen. And the state mandates how much of a move the tax rate can take anyways. The other districts can pay more because their taxes are higher. Period. While this program is not great it does provide money. It is a start as the district continues towards working to have better pay for all. https://washingtoncad.org/tax-rates/ This will show you tax rates for Brenham, Burton and Giddings. I hope you will take time to look at tax rates for the other neighboring districts, especially Waller where our veteran teachers are headed to help with their retirement pay. In order to be competitive we must be willing to match our neighbors.
Our schools are struggling to keep great teachers like “Ready to leave too” because we simply can’t pay them enough. Many are leaving for better-pay in other districts who have communities that have supported their schools. That means our kids lose out on experienced, caring teachers who know how to help them grow. If we want strong schools, we have to invest in the people who make them great. A Voter-Approval Tax Rate (VATR) is one way to give our community the chance to come together and say: we value our teachers, and we’re willing to do our part to keep them here for our kids. Teacher Incentive Allotment s not Brenham created. It is a statewide program established by TEA. It looks like the district is doing a ton of work to try to keep good teachers who care here through TIA. Find a district close to Brenham that is not doing TIA or has not passed a bond or a VATR. That is the difference. This is a state and community issue on funding.