It's the first day of school for several Rio Grande Valley school districts, including PSJA Independent School District.

As a new school year starts, teachers will have more money in their pockets.

PSJA ISD announced the starting pay for all first year teachers is $60,000 — up $700 from last year. In addition, all employees on the teacher pay scale received at least a $1,300 pay increase.

Channel 5 News' Joel Villanueva spoke with PSJA Memorial Early College High School teacher Christina Vela about the upcoming school year and what these pay raises mean to educators.

On top of all that, the Texas Incentive Allotment program, also known as TIA, is helping teachers earn more money every year.

The state-funded program was created back in 2019 with a few big goals in mind: to help school districts hire and hold onto the best teachers, which in turn can lead to better student outcomes. 

For teachers that are in the TIA program, they can earn anywhere from between $3,000 to more than $32,000 a year if they're a TIA designated teacher. 

The idea is the state wants to put more teachers on the path to earning six figures. According to PSJA ISD, more than 340 of its educators are now earning six figures.