We have received several questions from districts regarding Years TRA Teaching Experience and using educational aides' years of experience.
The primary question was regarding teachers that had up to two years of full-time aide experience prior to beginning teaching and they were credited for up to those two years for salary purposes (based on rules on creditable years of service 153.1021). Would districts be correct in counting those same years (up to two years) when determining a teacher’s Years TRA Teaching Experience?
We reached out to [email protected] for further guidance and below is the response that we received:
I wanted to clarify how the Teacher Retention Allotment (TRA) calculates years of teaching experience.
TRA only considers classroom teaching experience when determining the number of years of teaching experience. Roles such as instructional aide or Career and Technical Education (CTE) work experience do not count toward this calculation.
This requirement is based on House Bill 2 (HB2) and Texas Education Code §48.158(b), which specifies that eligibility is determined by classroom teaching experience as defined in statute.
If you have any questions or need further information regarding this, please email [email protected].