LINDALE, Texas — Almost 43,000 teachers in the state of Texas either resigned or retired in 2021, according to state data. It's a new record, but there are efforts underway to retain talented educators.
Lindale ISD has been approved for the state funded program called the Texas Teacher Incentive Allotment. It'll help reward and retain the most effective teachers within their classrooms.
Superintendent Stan Surratt said last year the school district had a difficult time finding teachers.
"We do not have enough people in the pipeline becoming teachers," Surratt said. "We unfortunately have people leaving education to go to other careers."
This is a problem seen in school districts across the state.
"It's an excellent place to work, teachers enjoy working here in Lindale ISD," Surratt said. "But already, it looks like next year is gonna be tougher than it was this year."
The TIA is designed to help entice teachers continue their dedicated work and have a way to be rewarded for it. The state-funded program provides money for districts to reward and retain their most effective teachers.
This year, LISD was approved to take part in the program, and the school even put a twist on the incentive’s name. The district is calling it Lindale Incentives For Teachers, also known as LIFT.
"We want to help them get that so they can be rewarded," Surratt said. "Because they certainly deserve it. We got some great teachers and they deserve that extra funding."
A little further north of Lindale, another East Texas school district was also approved to join the incentive program.
Yantis ISD will also be monitoring their teachers and students growth this year.
In a statement from Superintendent Tracey Helfferich, she said, "Yantis ISD was approved for Teacher Incentive Allotment recently. We are excited to be participating in this program and feel it will help our district to recruit and retain high quality teachers. Being a small, rural school it is sometimes difficult to recruit teachers and sometimes even harder to retain teachers. Teachers are excited to have the possibility of earning a designation and earning the extra pay for their hard work and extra effort."
Helfferich also said YISD will use this school year to capture data for those incentives.