The Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) was created by the Texas Legislature through House Bill 3 (HB 3) in 2019 and expanded by House Bill 2 (HB 2) in 2025. TIA is written into state law and funded through the Foundation School Program — it is not a grant, which means it's a sustainable, long-term source of funding rather than a one-time award.

TIA allows school districts to build a local optional teacher designation system that identifies outstanding teachers using two things:

• Teacher observation, based on the Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS)

• Student academic growth, measured over the course of the school year

Teachers who earn a designation generate additional state funding for their district — with the largest funding boosts going to high-needs and rural campuses like ours. Designated teachers hold their designation for five school years, and it appears on their official SBEC educator certificate.

There are four designation levels:

Howe ISD is a 3A school district covering 76 square miles in Grayson County, Texas — located 60 miles north of Dallas and 12 miles south of Sherman on Highway 75. We serve more than 1,200 students in Pre-K through 12th grade.

We believe our teachers are the single greatest driver of student success. Participating in TIA allows Howe ISD to:

• Compete with surrounding districts to attract highly effective teachers to our campuses

• Retain our best current teachers by rewarding the results they achieve with students

• Invest in the growth and craft of our educators, not just their years of service or degree level

Our uniform salary schedule rewards experience and education — TIA gives us an additional way to reward results. It's one more tool that helps us keep great teachers in Howe ISD classrooms.

Each year, every TIA-eligible teacher will receive an individualized scorecard showing:

• Their TIA designation level, if applicable

• Their average T-TESS score

• The percentage of their students who met or exceeded growth expectations

We believe teachers deserve to see exactly how their results were calculated — no surprises, fine print.

If Howe ISD's local designation system is approved and teachers earn designations, funding works like this:

• 90% of TIA funds generated by a designated teacher go directly to that teacher as compensation

• 10% is retained by the district to support TIA program oversight and professional development for teachers working toward a designation

• TIA compensation is distributed annually, no later than August 31, and counts toward Teacher Retirement System (TRS) wages

The exact dollar amount a designation generates depends on the designation level and the campus's rural/socioeconomic funding factors, which are set by the state and may change year to year. You can view current statewide allotment ranges on the Texas Education Agency's TIA page.