San Antonio Teacher Will Pay His Students $1K For Perfect STAAR Test Score

A Southside ISD teacher is giving his students a reason to study very hard.

Israel del Valle teaches math at Matthey Middle School. He plans to pay his students $1,000 if they get a perfect score on the math portion of the STAAR test.

He's hoping the cash incentive will encourage his students to take the test seriously.

His student will still be rewarded even if they don't make a perfect score. Students who miss five questions or less will get $100 while those who miss 14 or less will get $50.

“I’m hoping they blow out my expectations. Joking around this week, I keep telling them, you’re going to make me broke," del Valle told FOX 29.

The Southside ISD teacher of the year is reaching into his own pocket to pay for the incentives. He's working a second job to make sure he can pay his students.

"They’re excited to kind of push me and I’m excited to make it happen. And for all reasons, if I’m going to have to take out a loan or go into debt for these kids, it’s definitely worth it," he said.

Del Valle has around 120 students but said around eight of them have the potential to get a perfect score.

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