Edinburg CISD officials report growth, $4.3M in teacher incentive allotments while warning of data-validation risk

Edinburg CISD administrators told the school board’s committee that the district’s Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) plan has designated a cumulative 312 teachers through two years of the program and that preliminary district averages put year‑two allotments at about $4.3 million.

The update, led by district administrators and instructional staff, outlined how the program works, what measures the Texas Education Agency (TEA) requires, recent changes the district made to raise the number of eligible teachers and the remaining risk that Texas Tech’s data validation process could reject submitted data.

The TIA program is a TEA initiative that provides state funds to increase teacher pay at qualifying campuses and for qualifying teachers. “The whole purpose of TIA ultimately is to increase the salary compensation for designated teachers,” said Doctor Moreno, a presenter and district administrator, summarizing the program’s objective to the board.

Why it matters: designation approvals and the allotments that follow are not automatic. District staff must submit a validated dataset each year; TEA and Texas Tech review the submissions and may deny a dataset, which would prevent any payments for that year. Board members and staff repeatedly emphasized caution when notifying individual teachers of designation until the district receives final validation from the state.

Key findings and numbers - Year 1 (approved plan): 61 teachers were designated under the district’s initial submission. The district’s plan was approved in August 2022 for a five‑year period. - Year 2 (data submitted October 2024): a cumulative total of 312 teachers were identified for TIA designations (including year‑1 teachers who kept or raised their designation). - Preliminary allotment estimate for year 2: about $4.3 million in TIA funds for those teachers, calculated from TEA’s campus average allotments. - Student‑growth thresholds used by the district (from the TEA guide): 55% met/exceeded for recognized; 60% for exemplary; 70% for master. The district initially aligned closely with TEA thresholds and then adjusted observation thresholds. - Observation threshold change: the district lowered the minimum teacher observation score used for designation to a 3.0 (from a more conservative 3.7 threshold used in the initial plan). District staff said that change contributed materially to increasing the number of designated teachers in year 2. - Minimum test counts and language supports: the district required a minimum of 10 tested students per teacher for inclusion. Bilingual students who required Spanish translations were not included when a Spanish form was not available for the third‑party assessment.

What staff said about assessment and growth measures District staff described a mix of student growth measures depending on grade level: STAAR end‑of‑course and grade tests for qualifying grades, Renaissance/STAR and other vendor assessments for early grades, and TEKS‑aligned third‑party tools (documented in the district’s TEA/TIA materials). The district used a platform called TEKS Ready (assigned through Eduphoria) for first‑ and second‑grade pre/post testing in the TIA cohort, and staff said they would continue vetting and aligning vendor products and security protocols for any expansion.

Data‑validation and risk Administrators repeatedly warned that the plan’s approval does not substitute for annual data validation: the district submits an October dataset, Texas Tech performs validation and the district typically hears results in February; TEA posts allotment amounts in April. Staff described the district’s most recent verification score as 52.25 out of 81 possible points (64%), which staff said left only a modest margin of safety and underlined why the district had been conservative in setting thresholds and in deciding what to include in submissions.

Expansion plans, timeline and next steps District leaders said they will submit any modification or expansion application by the TEA deadline of April 15, 2025, for potential implementation in the 2025–26 school year if TEA approves in August. Staff described internal plans to: - Expand eligible grades and subjects at elementary, middle and high school levels (noting elementary additions in math, ELAR and science and additions at middle/high school levels including social studies and science). - Hire a dedicated TIA coordinator (district staff said they will bring a job description and recommendation to the board at the next meeting) to manage the daily testing, data management and reporting workload. - Continue principal calibration and training so observation scores align with student growth measures across campuses.

Officials stressed communications and fairness Board members and administrators emphasized being cautious and transparent with teachers. Multiple speakers said teachers who received tentative approval letters in a prior cycle were understandably upset when parts of an earlier submission required revision; the district intends to avoid premature notifications going forward and reiterated that, if Texas Tech denies a dataset, no one receives funds for that year.

Other details - The district’s approved plan covers five years; teacher designations, once validated, are maintained for the approved period as long as validation requirements are met annually. - TEA compute campus allotments using Census and income data; amounts vary by campus and by designation level (examples presented from the TIA website showed master teacher allotments ranging from roughly $14,000 to more than $20,000 at certain campuses for illustrative purposes). - The district currently tracks many assessment points (MCLASS, Renaissance/STAR, vendor pre/post tests) and uses Eduphoria for assignment and data collection; staff said they are validating vendor content‑support and security.

Bottom line Edinburg CISD reported clear growth in the number of teachers designated for the state TIA program and a significant preliminary allotment level for year 2, while underscoring that state data validation is the critical step before funds are final. District leaders said they will submit an expansion application by April 15 and will present a recommended, funded TIA coordinator position to the board for approval at the next meeting.

The committee adjourned following the presentation and discussion.