To earn a new/higher designation under the Teacher Incentive Allotment, an eligible employee must be reported with Role ID of 087 in PEIMS.

This excludes those that have moved to a non-teaching role such as: Instructional Coach, Counselor, Librarian, Substitute, Assistant Principal, Associate Principal, Building Principal, Speech Pathologist, Diagnostician, LSSP and/or Nurse.

Currently, no (unless a National Board Certified Teacher).  The district's local designation system was purposefully limited to start small, gain full system approval, improve systems and processes, then incrementally grow in future years.

The 2026-27 eligible teacher groups are listed here. 

National Board Certified Teachers, no matter the campus they work across the District, are eligible for TIA as long as they are reported in PEIMS as an 087 PEIMS coded teacher.

Currently, the specified teachers below are eligible to earn a TIA designation. Eligible teachers must be coded as "087"  (Full Time Teacher)  in PEIMS. All eligible teaching assignments must have no less than 5 students in their data collection group. All teachers in the eligible teacher group must be observed in the data collection year 2026-2027.  

Included Teachers:

• Prekindergarten

• Grade 4 English Language Arts and Reading

• Grade 5 English Language Arts and Reading

• Grade 6 English Language Arts and Reading

• Grade 7 English Language Arts and Reading

• Grade 8 English Language Arts and Reading

• English I

• English II

• Grade 4 Mathematics

• Grade 5 Mathematics

• Grade 6 Mathematics

• Grade 7 Mathematics

• Grade 8 Mathematics

• Algebra I

• Grade 3 English Language Arts and Reading

• Grade 3 Mathematics

• Grade 5 Science

• Grade 8 Science

• Biology

• Grade 8 Social Studies

• United States History Studies Since 1877

• Agricultural Mechanics and Metal Technologies

• Algebra II

• Anatomy and Physiology

• Art I

• Art, Grade 5

• Chemistry

• English III

• English IV

• English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 1

• English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 2

• Geometry

• Kindergarten

• Languages Other Than English Level II - Spanish

• Mathematics, Grade 1

• Mathematics, Grade 2

• Music I, Band I

• Principles of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

• Principles of Business, Marketing, and Finance

• Principles of Human Services

• Science, Departmentalized Grade 6

• Science, Grade 7

• Social Studies, Departmentalized Grade 6

• Social Studies, Grade 7

• World History Studies

• Career and College Exploration (First Time Taken)

Yes. A classroom teacher must meet the following criteria:

• Coded as 087 (Teacher) per PEIMS description of codes, established by TEA

  • This excludes: Non-087 Instructional Coaches, Substitutes, Librarians, Speech Pathologists, Diagnosticians, LSSPs, Counselors, Nurses, Assistant Principals, Associate Principals, Building Principals

• Spend the majority of their time directly instructing students

  • 90 days at 100% of the day (equivalent to four and one-half months or a full semester) or 180 days at 50–99% of the day

• Be formally evaluated annually by their campus Principal/Appraiser

• Provide student-facing instruction, in an eligible teaching assignment

In Ballinger ISD, in addition to being an 087 classroom teacher, eligible employees must also be the Teacher of Record of a minimum of 5 full-year (captured at all 3 snapshots) rostered students who have full student assessment data.

Also note that earning a designation is a two-year process; designations are awarded based on the prior year's performance data. Teacher's who meet the district's designation criteria based on their prior year's performance (data capture year) must remain employed by the district in a teaching role through the end of February following data capture to remain eligible for the designation. Those who move into a non-teaching position or leave the district cannot be submitted for a designation.

Yes! Balligner ISD is considering future expansion/modification to additional grade levels, teaching assignments and campuses where applicable and feasible given state and District program requirements and readiness. The district is currently going through the an expansion application process with Cohort 3. Pending the results of this data validation, the district will evaluate the status of the TIA program to consider expanding to additional subjects as appropriate when the time comes.

For a teaching assignment to become eligible, there must be valid and reliable student growth measurements in alignment with calibrated teacher observation resources. If a teaching assignment is identified to be included, the district must submit an expansion application (due annually in April), receive approval from TEA, and then begin a data capture year in the following school year. Each new additional must also complete data validation in order to earn a new/higher designation.

No action is necessary by the eligible teacher.

Ballinger ISD administration, in conjunction with PEIMS, will identify eligible teachers for TIA consideration based on system data, the District’s TEA approved plan, and local system requirements.

No additional work/duties are required by a teacher who is TIA eligible.

However, earning a designation is a multi-year process; designations are awarded based on the prior year's performance data upon TEA system approval.

Teacher's who meet the district's designation criteria based on their prior year's performance (data capture year) must remain employed by the district in an 087 PEIMS coded teaching role through the end of February following the data capture year to remain eligible for designation. Those who move into a non-teaching position or leave the District cannot be issued a designation.

TEA and TTU review the following TIA required system components that districts submit annually in October (from the previous data capture school year) to verify the validity and reliability of the measurements which are used to identify designated teachers in the district's local designation system:

• Teacher Performance

• Student Growth

Districts must have observation and student growth data from the data capture year for all teachers in the district’s system.

An annual appraisal, including one scored walkthrough per semester and one 45-minute full observation is required for teachers to earn a new/higher designation and, in Ballinger ISD, to be considered for continued annual TIA stipend payout.

Ballinger ISD utilizes the annual appraisal data to ensure TIA designated teachers meet the district's maintained performance criteria for payout.

A teacher's student growth data and teacher performance data is calculated according to their eligible teaching assignment. Student growth  is 60% and teacher performance is 40% of the overall system. 

Designation and payout is a multi-step process that covers multiple school years per TEA timeline of events. There is the "data capture" year followed by the "designation" year.

Personalized scorecards will be given to teachers in August to review their data and notify principals of any discrepancies prior to data submission in October. This data will be included in the data submission sent for data validation. 

Every February, after the data collection year, TEA collects data through Class Winter Roster PEIMS submission to confirm that a teacher is still in a classroom teaching role with a specific district. Then, TEA produces a report of designations and calculated allotments for those teachers who were reported as being employed in an 087 role with the District as of the last Friday in February. Late April/early May districts confirm the report and verify each designated teacher has met the creditable year of service TEA requirement.

Additionally, eligible teachers are contacted via District-email in mid-May of their designation status, level and the allotment generated.

Likewise, TEA sends a formal email to each designated teacher annually in late-May regarding their designation level and allotment generated. This email goes to the email address provided to TEA, by the teacher, in their TEA Login (TEAL) portal.

Ballinger ISD shall review any reports and/or findings of false/incorrect data. This includes teachers which the District put forth for a local designation, disqualified and/or ineligible teachers, teachers that earned a designation through National Board Certification, and any teacher Ballinger ISD hired to the District that earned a designation from their former district. False/incorrect data could include, but is not limited to: employment status, campus and/or course discrepancies, teacher performance scores, and student growth scores.

Upon official release of the personalized scorecards, teachers with questions regarding their data should meet with their Campus Principal to review. Teachers have 15 days upon receipt of the personalized scorecards to contact their principal to request an Informal Data Review. 

The request will be reviewed and a response will be provided by HR within 7 district business days.

Ballinger ISD reserves the right to withhold a teacher’s TIA designation award should they find that data used to designate or validate a teacher’s designation was falsified or invalid in any way. Disciplinary action including immediate termination proceedings may also be enforced should the District find that an employee purposefully falsified data used to designate and/or award an employee for TIA.

See the Ballinger ISD TIA Handbook for additional details on the Appeals Process.

Funding for TIA designated teachers must be spent on teacher compensation on the campus where the designated teachers work at time of Class Roster Winter submission (late February). Statute states that allotment funds are not considered a property right.

TEC Section 48.112 (i)(1)(A): A district shall annually certify that funds received under this section were used as follows: At least 90% of each allotment received was used for the compensation of teachers employed at the campus at which the teacher for whom the district received the allotment is employed.

The allotment funding available from TEA varies by the designation of, and campus where, the designated teacher works. Allotment funding is updated annually in April by TEA and can be accessed through the Funding Map page of TEA's TIA website.

Allotment payouts for designated teachers are not calculated or prorated based on the total number of sections or students taught.

The exact amount of allotment funding per teacher is determined by a formula that considers the level of socioeconomic need at a campus, whether the campus is rural, and the teacher's designation level.

Designations are portable. Therefore, if a designated teacher moves campuses within a district or to a campus in a different district from one school year to another, the allotment the designated teacher generates will be recalculated based on the new campus (captured at Class Roster Winter submission) tier funding status. 

Yes. Given that a school’s student enrollment changes yearly, the campus’s socioeconomic tier will be recalculated annually in April by TEA.

As a reminder, this calculation uses the home addresses of students who attend a particular campus.

Allotment funds for each designated teacher will be based on the campus, not the individual students, assigned to the designated teacher.

Allotment funding is updated annually by TEA and can be accessed through the Funding Map page of TEA's TIA website.

TIA compensation is an annual allotment provided by the state and subject to availability of state funding allocations.

TIA designated teachers will receive TIA compensation annually based on their TIA designation and upon meeting the District's TEA-approved Spending Plan.

Funding for their designation will be determined based on the designated teacher's campus of record at time of Class Roster Winter PEIMS submission (late February).

Ballinger ISD's TIA compensation will be paid as a lump sum stipend, by August 31st, should the teacher meet all criteria in the Spending Plan.

TIA compensation in Ballinger ISD does not affect a designated teacher's salary. It is given in the form of a single annual stipend, based on the District Spending Plan criteria being met by the teacher.

TIA stipends are awarded with the intent for designated teachers to stay with the District, in the classroom. In exchange for the receipt of the TIA stipend payment in August, an employee, in good faith, is expected to remain employed through the end of their employment contract of that same school year, absent extenuating circumstances approved by HR.

TIA compensation is TRS eligible. Salary increases in the last three of five years (depending on a TRS member's tier) before retirement are counted only if they are no more than 10% of the previous year’s allowed salary or $10,000, whichever is greater (the “10%/$10,000 limit”). These details can also be found under "Conversion and Salary Increases in Final Years Before Retirement" in the TRS Benefits Handbook which can be downloaded from the TRS website. A TIA designated TRS member is encouraged to contact a TRS Benefit Counselor when they are ready to retire to determine if this limit will impact their retirement annuity calculation.

A designated teacher's allotment is sent from TEA to the district which the designated teacher worked at Class Roster Winter submission (late February).

For example, if an actively designated teacher worked in Bluebonnet ISD for the 2025-26 school year then transferred to Ballinger ISD for 2026-27, the generated allotment (for the 2025-25 school year) went to Bluebonnet ISD. The actively designated teacher will need to check with Bluebonnet ISD regarding their payout for the 2025-26 school year.

Once a designated teacher is employed with, and captured under Ballinger ISD during Class Roster Winter submission (last Friday in February annually), TEA will generate funding for that teacher based on the Ballinger ISD campus they were captured.

Per Ballinger ISD’s Spending Plan, new hires who hold an active verified TIA designation will receive the funding generated for the District by TEA based on their Ballinger ISD Class Roster Winter submission campus by August 31st of the year following allotment confirmation pending verification of employment and confirmation that minimum local requirements were met.

An active TIA designation "badge" is displayed on the teacher’s SBEC certificate with an expiration after five years. To search your SBEC certificate, click HERE.

Likewise, teachers can search for their designation in the TIA Designated Teacher Registry which is updated by TEA annually in late May. Click HERE to search.

Designated teachers who meet performance standards and district qualifications can be put forth for a new designation in their fourth year of designation if on a TIA-eligible campus and in a TIA-eligible teaching assignment.

Once the designation expires, it will be removed from the SBEC certificate and allotment funding will no longer be generated.

While designations are tied to the teacher and not their employing district or campus, allotment funds are awarded to the district where the teacher was employed as an 087 PEIMS coded classroom teacher per TEA at the time of Class Roster Winter PEIMS Submission (last Friday each February).

The district employing the teacher in February will verify designation/allotment in April/May. The district is required by statute to spend the allotment funds by August 31 per the local Spending Plan criteria.

See Ballinger ISD's Spending Plan for details regarding designated teachers who resign and or retire prior to the start of the new school year following annual designation verification.

Unlike certificates, designations are general.

The designation will be placed on the teacher’s SBEC certificate and will not specify a certification area or subject/grade level.

A teacher may change 087 PEIMS coded classroom teaching assignments and will still generate allotment funding.

However, if a teacher moves out of an 087 PEIMS coded role, an allotment will not be generated. This includes those actively designated teachers who move to non-087 roles such as Instructional Coach, Counselor, Assistant Principal, Campus Principal, Diagnostician, and Librarians.

Teacher designations are valid for five years.

Within the five-year period, teachers may be put forth for a higher designation if their performance qualifies them at a TIA-eligible campus in a TIA-eligible teaching assignment, but they cannot be submitted for a lower designation.