Nearly 2 Dozen Quinlan ISD Teachers Get Significant, Surprise Raises

QUINLAN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - A small North Texas school district had a big surprise for nearly two dozen of its teachers.

Some of those teachers were on the verge of moving to higher paying jobs until a new state program rewarded their hard work and now has them wanting to stay.

A total of 19 teachers from Quinlan ISD were called into a meeting they weren't expecting with their superintendent on Friday, Feb. 18.

Some of them were worried they might be in trouble.

"I was immediately negative for whatever reason and I ran out of the classroom," says Jody Delzell, a Ford High School English teacher.

"So I'm like what is going on in the district that would warrant this," wondered Chauntae' Russell, a Thompson Middle School math teacher.

Both teachers thought their time in the small Hunt County school district was short anyway.

They loved their jobs in Quinlan ISD but the pay just hasn't been enough to stay beyond a few years.

"I needed to get another job too because my daughter being in college is a chunk of money," says Delzell.

Russell shared the same concern.

"I have talked about maybe I need to leave to support my family," she said.

It turned out, the meeting with Superintendent Jeff Irvin was a surprise presentation to the first group of teachers in Quinlan ever to receive Teacher Incentive Allotments or TIAs.

It's a recent state program that rewards educators whose students show progress with financial bonuses.

In Russell's case, it's an extra $13,000 to her current salary every year for the next five years.

In Delzell's case. It's $26,000 every year over the next five years.

"I was looking at retirement in a year or two," says Delzell. "For teachers to get a bonus is very, very unorthodox and unheard of so this is really a gift."

"I couldn't even begin to tell you how much it means to have that, says Russell. "I'm grounded here now, I don't have to think about will I need to go to another district."

At a time when school districts everywhere are struggling to find enough teachers, Quinlan ISD's superintendent says the TIA program is a godsend.

"It just means the world to me, they persevered, stayed with us and now they are being rewarded for their efforts," says Irvin.

The TIA recognizes teachers with three levels of salary bonuses if they are designated as either recognized, exemplary or master.

It was created in 2019 to give teachers a realistic pathway to a six-figure salary.