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HISD board approves new teacher evaluation system ahead of pay-for-performance plan

by Angelica Perez / Staff Writer

 

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Meanwhile, critics of the plans, including leaders of the district’s teachers unions, argue standardized test scores are a poor measure of students’ learning and that the classroom observations unfairly punish teachers who incorporate discussions, projects and out-of-the-box instructional styles. They also argue the proposed system would cause unhealthy competition between colleagues, because HISD has said it will adhere to a “target distribution” under which only 20 percent of teachers can score at the top two levels of the scale, initially.

With four-figure raises possible for thousands of teachers under the plan, the pay-for-performance system would likely cost HISD tens of millions of dollars more in teacher salaries per year than it currently pays.

HISD has not yet released the full budgetary details for the plan. However, Miles said the system will allow HISD to unlock millions of dollars in state funding for teacher incentive pay to offset the cost, and that a proposal currently under consideration by the state legislature to raise teacher pay could also provide funding.

In order for the system to take effect, HISD’s board of managers, also appointed by Morath, next spring would have to approve the 2027 budget, which will reflect the cost of 2026-27 teacher salaries. HISD released the salary information now, a year before the board will officially consider allocating the funds, because teachers signing on for roles in HISD next year should know how their upcoming ratings could translate to future pay levels, Miles said.

Here’s what you need to know about the new potential teacher pay system.

How would the salary scale break down?

Depending on their performance rankings, teachers would land in one of six pay categories — “Unsatisfactory” through “Exemplary I” — each separated by a difference of $4,000 to $6,000 per year in pay.

Within each performance level, overall pay also would vary by the school educators work at and what subject they teach.

At schools that are part of Miles’ overhaul model, teachers of core subjects — including math, English, science, social studies and Art of Thinking — would earn $9,000 more per year than colleagues at other schools who are ranked at a similar performance level. Elective and career and technical education teachers at overhauled schools would earn $3,000 more than similarly ranked teachers at other campuses. (Special education teachers are not included in the plan and earn a flat rate of $90,000 per year, regardless of what school they work at, Miles said.)

The pay scale is “pretty final,” Miles said, though he noted “we reserve the right to change it.”

Most teachers who score at the Unsatisfactory level would not be allowed to work in HISD the following year, but a select few may remain on payroll in extenuating circumstances, such as medical leave or when there are unfilled positions, Miles said.

Teachers who are new to HISD and have less than three years of experience would begin at the second level of the pay scale, “Progressing I,” while new teachers with three or more years of past work experience would enter at the third level, “Progressing II.”

The new pay model would mark a notable departure from the Miles administration’s practice of paying teachers of certain academic subjects considerably more than others at overhauled schools. The change is primarily to simplify the new salary scale, Miles said.

“If we’re going to go to one system, … the focus on effectiveness and paying for effectiveness trumps the paying for differentiated subjects,” Miles said.

How would the plan phase in?

Under HISD’s plan, the new salaries are set to take effect in the 2026-27 school year. That’s because next school year, 2025-26, will be the first year teachers are evaluated on the district’s new performance rating system, making the following year the first that teachers can be paid according to their score on the measure.

In 2026-27, teachers’ pay would be based solely on their 2025-26 performance rating. In all following years, salaries would be determined by the average of the previous two years’ scores. 

Initially, no teachers would earn less than they did under the current, experience-based pay scale, Miles said. For up to four years, anyone whose salary would dip under the pay-for-performance model would be able to maintain the same level of pay, based on years of experience accrued by summer 2025, that they would earn under the 2025-26 salary scale.

Starting in the fall of 2028, HISD would phase in a seventh performance level, “Exemplary II,” which would earn an additional $4,000 per year. Under the new performance rating system, teachers must score at Exemplary I for two years before they can receive an Exemplary II rating.

Will there be drastic swings in salaries?

The plan includes several features that would slow potential changes in teachers’ annual pay.

Regardless of where educators land on their performance ratings, they would only be able to move up or down one step on the compensation ladder per year. Additionally, no teachers’ yearly salary would be allowed to jump by more than $6,000 in a year in 2026-27 or 2027-28.

The plan also notes the pay scale “may” be adjusted every two or three years to keep up with inflation.
Asher Lehrer-Small covers Houston ISD for the Landing. Find him @by_ash_ls on Instagram and @small_asher on X, or reach him directly at asher@houstonlanding.org.

This article first appeared on Houston Landing and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.