The Houston Police Officers' Union | Education Section of Contract 2001

Officers shall be entitled to receive reimbursement for tuition and required fees related to educational courses (e.g. lab fees) at a college or university for course hours in an accredited college or university degree program in which an officer enrolls during his/her employment as an officer. This does not include any correspondence courses unless they are offered by an accredited school or university. Ineligible costs include fees associated with parking, building use, gym fees, seat deposits or college hours that were required for admission, college hours obtained while in the Academy or while on probation or, more specifically, during the fifty-two (52) week period following graduation from the Academy.

Officers are entitled to reimbursement for eligible costs as stated herein which are not covered entirely from other sources such as VA/GI Bill, LEEP, 100 Club, scholarships, grants etc. Under no circumstances will an officer be eligible to receive reimbursement for more than 100% of their actual costs.

Should an officer receive reimbursement from the City and receive additional funding from a third party so that the total reimbursement exceeds 100% of the officer's actual costs, the officer must reimburse the City all funds which exceed 100% of the actual costs.

Tuition reimbursement shall be limited to those fees and tuition required in Texas State supported colleges and universities for similar or related courses and shall only be paid at Texas resident rates.
For undergraduate and law school courses, grades equivalent to an AC or better will be reimbursed at 100%. For graduate courses other than law school courses, only grades equivalent to an AB or better will be reimbursed at 100%.

At the completion of a graduate or undergraduate course for which a letter grade is not given, the Department will reimburse on a passing or satisfactory rating or grade. On a multi-semester course in which a grade is not given or awarded until final completion of the course, reimbursement will not occur until final completion of the course.

Article 18 - Educational Incentive Pay

Prior to January 1, 2004, during the term of this Agreement, any officer who has or is awarded a degree by an accredited college or university, shall be paid biweekly incentive pay of $100.00 for a Bachelor's Degree; $200.00 for a Master's Degree; $300.00 for a Doctorate Degree. Effective the first full pay period after January 1, 2004, any officer who has or is awarded a degree by an accredited college or university, the incentive pay biweekly shall be increased to $140.00 for a Bachelor's Degree; $240.00 for a Master's Degree; $340.00 for a Doctorate Degree. These amounts are cumulative for advanced degrees so that only one biweekly award may be paid based upon the highest degree awarded. Acceptable certification of the award of a degree must be provided before the Educational Incentive Pay shall be paid.

Officers are responsible for reporting training and education received outside the Department to ensure their training and education records are current and accurate.

The Department shall update training and education records when officers receive training and education by or through the Department. The Department shall timely report to TCLEOSE the training and education completed by each officer and approved by the HPD Training Division for state certification purposes.

If the Department fails to timely update training and education records and/or report same to TCLEOSE, the Department shall be required to pay any training certification incentive pay that is lost as a result of any untimely updating or reporting. Untimely shall mean a delay of more than 30 days in updating and/or reporting from the date the officer files the completed training report with the Department and does not include any delay caused by TCLEOSE or any out of Department training not reported timely by the officer.