Harmony Public Schools is surprising its 4,800 teachers and team members across Texas with some good news to start National Teacher Appreciation week Monday, May 2. The Texas-based public charter school system is awarding a $500 stipend to all employees for their extraordinary efforts throughout the 2021-22 school year.
“Throughout the many challenges of the past few years, our Harmony Public Schools team members have stepped up time and time again to keep our students focused on learning,” Harmony Public Schools CEO Fatih Ay said. “Whether they are a teacher, an extracurricular club coach, a college counselor, mentor or one of the many other roles needed to give our students the full spectrum of support they deserve, our team members are making a difference every day at Harmony.”
Funds will be distributed May 2-6 to all current employees, so long as they were active in April 2022.
With approximately 4,800 workers statewide, the total commitment from the stipend will amount to roughly $2.4 million. Though funds will be distributed during Teacher Appreciation Week, the stipend is not being given specifically in recognition of the week, rather for an entire school year’s worth of exemplary work.
The stipend was approved by the Harmony Public Schools Executive Board on April 30.
Harmony also awarded a similar stipend for employees in both May 2021 and both May and December 2020. Harmony also announced a comprehensive benefits upgrade in 2021 that included free employee dental, vision, matching retirement contributions (on top of TRS Retirement) and an increase in the employer-paid life insurance policy from $20,000 to $100,000. In total, these stipends and benefits upgrade amount to $6.8 million in additional spending on employees in 2020-22 alone.
Harmony Public Schools is a Texas-born, Texas-wide public charter school system offering a tuition-free education to PreK-Grade 12 students in 23 cities across the state, including Greater Houston, DFW, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso, Laredo, Lubbock, Waco, Odessa, Bryan, Beaumont, and the Rio Grande Valley. Harmony’s curriculum places a heavy focus on STEM skills, Character Education, project-based learning, and college readiness. The system has a 98 percent graduation rate for its high school seniors, and 100 percent college acceptance rate among its graduating seniors.