HUTTO – A proposed pay plan that would allow some teachers’ wages to quickly rise while potentially lowering other teachers’ salaries based on student performance will not be launched next school year.
Hutto Independent School District Superintendent Jeni Neatherlin sent teachers an email Sept. 9 assuring them the program was still in the evaluation stage and had not been voted in by the school board.
“To be clear, your data this year will not be used in a strategic compensation framework. We do NOT have a board-adopted strategic compensation plan,” Neatherlin said. “Right now, we are still listening, learning and building. IF we do this, it’s still several years away from being fully implemented. We want to get this right if it's for us and not rush it.”
At the July 23 school board meeting, Clark Lowery, chief of schools, told trustees about plans for a strategic compensation initiative that is an optional part of the statewide Teacher Incentive Allotment from the Texas Education Agency.
Under TIA guidelines, educators may receive extra compensation tied to students’ growth during a school year based on expected targets.
Lowery said the program could be launched during the 2027-28 academic period using data from the current and previous school years.
James Gazzale, a Hutto ISD spokesman, said the vote by the trustees at that meeting signaled leadership will continue exploring the option, not launching the program. “They simply kind of offered their blessing in leadership continuing to pursue building out the program,” Gazzale said. “The purpose (the July presentation) served was to provide the board with an update of the work that had been done up until that point with the buildout and exploration of what a complete strategic compensation program would look like.”
After hearing about the program, several teachers appeared at the Aug. 27 board meeting to tell trustees their concerns about equitable evaluation across different types of classes, including those with students who are not yet proficient in English.
The teachers also spoke about the financial and emotional impact of potential yearly looming pay reductions based on the evaluations.
The teachers had questions about the speed of the rollout and how this year’s student testing data may influence their pay next year.
Gazzale said a large working group, which includes up to 60 teachers and administrators from different campuses, grade levels and subjects, has been meeting since March to determine whether strategic compensation was something Hutto ISD wanted to pursue.
The TIA is a funding program that offers school districts a way to designate and reward top-performing teachers, according to state officials.
According to the TEA website, it was “established with the goal of providing outstanding teachers an accessible pathway to a six-figure salary.”
Under the TIA, school districts receive an annual allotment for each eligible designated teacher. Funds can be used in several ways, including as incentives to keep high-performing teachers in the district or to attract effective teachers to high-needs campuses.
Hutto ISD participates in the TIA program, just not the strategic compensation cohort.
Neatherlin assured teachers in her email that strategic compensation is still a long way from reality.
“If and when a complete strategic compensation program is brought forward to the board, our teachers will have a clear understanding of the framework and exactly what it could mean for them,” she told educators. “Even presenting the board with a complete program for teacher compensation is several years down the road.”
