Lufkin ISD school board discusses Teacher’s Incentive Allotment program

LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) - It’s a challenge for much of Texas: recruiting and retaining public school teachers.

The Lufkin school board is considering a Teacher’s Incentive Allotment program, funded by state grant money.

Lufkin ISD Assistant Superintendent for Education Services Shelly Slaton said 26 names of their top-ranked teachers were turned in for recommendation to the state.

Slaton said this provides a pathway for these top teachers to earn more and to help retain and attract high-performing teachers at traditionally harder-to-staff schools.

“It’s around $275,000 a year and a little over $1 million in five years that our top teachers will earn through this program,” said Slaton.

When the pot of money is divided up, she said this is anywhere from $6,000 up to $25,000 depending on the level they’re at and the campus they’re on.

“When we can pay our top teachers’ extra money and they can bring in that income, it helps us retain those teachers and recruit other teachers to our district,” said Slaton,

She said teachers must have a 4.5 rating or a minimum of 3.7 rating to be qualified, a rating built by their students’ STAAR testing results.

“If they have a teacher performing at that kind of level and teaching that as a parent, if a teacher has that on their certification, then you know, ‘hey, I’ve got a really great teacher for my kiddo,’” she said.

STAAR measures math, reading, science, and social studies. Slaton said the incentive program will aim to consider teachers who do not teach those measured subjects.

“So that those teachers can also earn the recognized level and start earning that extra income, too,” she said.

Slaton said they’ll be notified in April once the validation reviews double check the top ranked teachers.

She said if approved, they’ll be able to issue first payments to the teachers in August 2024.

Those teachers have not yet been notified.

Copyright 2023 KTRE. All rights reserved.