Teacher Incentive Allotment
NEISD Teacher Incentive Allotment Program
Information regarding the program is subject to change.
North East ISD is excited to offer our teachers a realistic pathway to earning substantially more money for their great work.
The Texas Education Agency’s Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) was established by House Bill 3 (HB 3), which was passed by the 86th Texas Legislature in 2019 and signed into law by Governor Abbott on June 11, 2019. The goal of the TIA is to provide a realistic pathway to a six-figure salary for teachers in order to help recruit, support, and retain highly effective teachers in all schools, particularly in high-needs and rural schools.
HB 3 established the TIA to recognize effective teachers on three different levels: Recognized, Exemplary, and Master. These teacher designations generate additional teacher-focused allotment funding for districts in order for them to reward their top performers.
In June 2025, HB 2 expanded The Texas Education Agency’s Teacher Incentive Allotment by adding a new designation band, Acknowledged. Adding this new designation band will make more teachers eligible for the allotment. The legislation also increases the allotment amount for Recognized, Exemplary, and Master designations.
What is a Designation?
Teacher designations are an official state recognition awarded to teachers who demonstrate exceptional performance according to their district’s local designation system. These designations – Acknowledged, Recognized, Exemplary, and Master – identify teachers who meet specific standards of excellence and impact rooted in teacher performance and determine the level of additional compensation they generate for their district.
National Board Certified
National Board Certified Teachers who qualify for a designation through their district’s local designation system may be put forth for any level of designation. TEA defaults to the higher designation, and the Nationally Board Certified designation becomes inactive.
ACKNOWLEDGED TEACHER
Acknowledged designations represent the top 50% of Texas Teachers.
Recognized Teacher
Recognized designations represent the top 33% of Texas Teachers.
Exemplary Teacher
Exemplary designations represent the top 20% of Texas Teachers.
Master Teacher
Master designations represent the top 5% of Texas Teachers.
Who Can Be Designated?
Any number of teachers may be put forth for designation under a local designation system if they meet the district’s designation criteria and the eligibility requirements under the rules defined by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). TEA does not limit the number of designations a district may issue. HB2 (June 2025) Section 21.3521(c) Teachers with an active National Board Certification will be designated a “nationally board certified”.
To promote alignment with Texas standards and processes, HB 2 also creates a review process for National Board certification to determine future eligibility for TIA.
Pre-Application
Districts engage with stakeholders and develop their local designation system.
District Process
TIA designations are determined based on the TIA score, a weighted combination of the teacher observation dimensions (the 8 dimensions of domains 2 and 3) and the student growth score. To determine annual teacher eligibility for a TIA designation, the following steps are completed at the district-level, end-of-year analysis:
System Application
Districts submit their application to TEA after building their system and then submit the TIA Teacher Buy-In Survey to TTU.
1st Data Capture Year 2023-24*
*On-going for all TIA-eligible teaching assignments.
Districts implement their system and track student growth and teacher observations.
1st Data Submission Year 2024-25*
*On-going for all TIA-eligible teaching assignments.
Districts submit their data to TTU for data validation and TEA reviews outcomes and other pieces of data to determine final approval.
TIA Annual Program Submission & Surveys submitted to TTU.
Post-Approval*
*On-going for all TIA-eligible teaching assignments.
New or higher designations with expansions and modifications.
New or higher designations are announced in the Spring following Fall Data Submission.
Distribution of Funds
North East ISD has a clear, written plan to abide by the spending requirements in TEC 48.112. Districts receive an annual allotment for each eligible designated teacher they employ. Districts must spend 90% or more of the allotment on teacher compensation on the campus where the designated teacher works by August 31 each school year. Note, based on local TIA spending plans, districts can choose to reward other instructional staff at the campus where the allotment was generated.
Note: payouts to teachers may be subject to deductions, including retirement contributions and taxes.
| Year of Phase in Approach | Allotment Going to Designated Teachers A significant portion of TIA allotment goes to the teacher who has earned the designation. | Allotment Going to Non-Eligible Teachers on the Campus Recognize and reward the contributions of the other teaching staff who support teachers but who are not eligible to earn a designation in the current year. | Allotment Going to the District Funds to use in support of TIA implementation and management. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year One Application Accepted | 80% | 10% | 10% |
| Year Two Fully Approved | 80% | 10% | 10% |
| Year Three + Fully Approved | 80% | 10% | 10% |
Answering Your Questions
Why is North East ISD Participating in the TIA?
With more than 55,000 students in 43 elementary schools, 13 middle schools, and 9 high schools, North East ISD is a large, urban school district with a diverse student population.
North East ISD is committed to its mission of preparing ALL students for success in college, career, and community leadership. NEISD’s mission is to challenge and encourage each student to achieve and demonstrate academic excellence, technical skills, and responsible citizenship.
The Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) allows North East ISD to become more competitive with our surrounding suburban school districts by attracting the best teachers to work in our highest-need campuses. Teachers are considered to be the leading contributors to student success. Participation in TIA provides the necessary incentive to attract high-performing teachers from other districts to NEISD and for our most effective teachers to stay and work at high-needs campuses.
Through the compensation levels provided by the designation system, our highest-need campuses will attract highly-effective teachers. North East ISD recognizes the importance of compensating teachers and desires to lead our region in this initiative.
NEISD will continue to pursue opportunities to recruit highly-effective teachers to our highest-need campuses, to retain the highly- effective teachers already in the District, and to improve instructional practices across the District.
What Are the Local Designation System Requirements?
House Bill 3 provides districts with local control and flexibility when designing the designation system. TIA designation is a multi-year process from planning-to-payout. Teachers must maintain continuous employment and be coded as a 087-teacher throughout the process.
The designation system must include both a teacher observation and a student performance component:
- Teacher Observation based on T-TESS
- Student Growth Measures Determined by the District
- Districts may include other factors in determining the teachers eligible to receive a designation
The designation system must be submitted to TEA for approval, fully engage in data capture, and undergo a data-validation process, conducted by Texas Tech University. As part of the validation process, Texas Tech University will:
- Review alignment between teacher observation ratings and student performance ratings
- Review data validity by appraiser/rater, by campus, across campuses in the District, and by teaching assignment
- Compare District data to state data by comparing the percentage of teachers the District puts forth for designation to overall District performance.
TIA Designation Timeline
Designation is earned over two years before allotment funding is distributed.
Data Collection Year
BOY Assessment
EOY Assessment
Conferences
Data Analysis
Data Submission & Validation Year
Data Validation
Notifications
for Designated Teachers
* Teachers who resign, retire, or move into a non-teaching role before completing a full year of service will not receive TIA funding.