HISD backtracks on $2K retention incentives for certain teachers

Houston ISD told teachers Thursday that it would no longer be offering the promised retention incentives of up to $2,000 to teachers who continued to work in schools outside the New Education System next year. The district had planned to provide “high-performing” teachers at non-NES schools with an extra $1,000 to $2,000 if they kept teaching at non-NES schools next year, but they will no longer be doing so due to budget constraints, according to an email sent to teachers. The district has not released the specifics of the budget, which the school board is expected to vote on in June.

The announcement comes nearly two months after the district initially published its compensation plan for the 2024-25 school year, which outlined the proposed salaries for all of the district’s employees and the incentives and stipends they are eligible to earn. The plan included a link to a separate list of stipends that district employees are eligible to earn next year, although the compensation plan and the list have been revised multiple times since March. The district had originally posted that non-NES teachers would be eligible for the newly offered retention bonuses but they were removed from the list as of Wednesday. “Those stipends were promised by (state-appointed Superintendent Mike) Miles to teachers,” said Jackie Anderson, president of Houston ISD’s largest teachers union, in a statement. “To renege on that promise shows the ineffectiveness of Mr. Miles to manage and lead this district.”