The State Board for Educator Certification was created in 1995 by the Texas Legislature to regulate and oversee certification, continuing education and standards of conduct of public school educators. The SBEC comprises 15 members, 11 of whom are voting members appointed by the governor; of the four nonvoting members, one represents the Texas Education Agency, one represents the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, one is a college of education dean, and one is a person who has experience with an alternative certification program not affiliated with an institution of higher education. Among the 11 voting members are four public members and seven practitioners: four teachers, two administrators and one counselor.
Although most districts of innovation have exempted themselves from some or many teacher certification requirements, new legislation (House Bill 2) provides that, beginning with the 2026-27 school year, districts are prohibited from employing uncertified/inappropriately certified or unpermitted teachers of record in foundation courses. However, districts with adopted local innovation plans that exempt the district from applicable teacher certification requirements may employ uncertified/inappropriately certified or unpermitted teachers in foundation courses other than reading language arts or math in a grade level above five for the 2026-27 school year only.
HB 2 also provides that districts may receive an exception from the requirement to employ only certified/permitted teachers of record in foundation courses by submitting a plan to the commissioner for approval to delay the requirement if the plan provides a reasonable timeline and strategy to come into compliance no later than the 2029-30 school year.
Teacher certificates issued after Aug. 31, 1999, are subject to a five-year renewal period, with a 150-hour continuing professional education requirement that must be met through an SBEC-approved provider. (TCTA offers more than 70 hours of free CPE videos for members.)
Counselor, librarian, educational diagnostician and master teacher certificates issued after Aug. 31, 1999, have a 200-hour CPE requirement for every renewal cycle.
Educators who add another class of certificate during a renewal cycle can prorate the additional CPE hours required by the new certificate for the remainder of the renewal cycle.
Certificates issued before Sept. 1, 1999, are exempt from these rules. Educators adding new certificate areas should be aware that while their current certificates retain the “lifetime” designation, any certificates added after Aug. 31, 1999, are renewable and subject to the continuing education requirements.
Education aides are required to be certified but are not subject to the continuing education requirements.
Note: Non-certified personnel are exempt from CPE requirements.
New legislation (HB 2) provides that the bilingual and special education certification application fees and exam fees are waived for a candidate’s first test attempt (if first attempt is after Aug. 1, 2025; if first attempt was between June 4 and July 31, 2025, the candidate will be reimbursed).
TCTA-initiated legislation allows certified teachers to become certified in another area or level simply by passing the applicable certification exam, without having to complete an educator preparation program or obtain additional college credit hours. Certification by exam is not available for teachers of students with visual impairments; for the EC-3 certificate; or for certificates other than the classroom teacher category of certificate (e.g., school counselor, learning resources/school librarian, educational diagnostician). Teachers adding certificates via exam can register with the testing company for the applicable certification exam by indicating that they are obtaining certification by examination and will not have to receive a bar code for the exam from an educator preparation program.
Retakes of certification exams are limited to four times per exam unless SBEC waives the limitation for good cause. The retake limitation does not apply to candidates seeking a standard Trade and Industrial Workforce Training certificate.
Applicants for good-cause waivers must pay a $160 fee and demonstrate successful completion of a specified number of educational activities hours directly related to the relevant certification exam competencies that the candidate failed to pass in the certification exam. The number of required educational activities hours increases the further away a candidate’s score is from meeting the passing standard.
Candidates are required to wait progressively longer periods of time before applying for a good-cause waiver with each successive unsuccessful exam attempt, up to the limit of five attempts. Good-cause determinations are administratively handled with appeals available to SBEC. Waiver applications are available on the TEA website.
New legislation (HB 2) provides that a person seeking certification who fails to perform satisfactorily on the Bilingual Target Language Proficiency Test may retake only the sections of the test that include the domains on which performance was unsatisfactory, and in doing so, can omit the component requiring the preparation of a lesson plan if the person failed to perform satisfactorily on a domain requiring completion of that component.
Most TExES tests are administered via computer at specially equipped test centers, most on a continuous basis. For more information on test dates and registration, visit the Pearson website or the Texas Educators link on the TEA website.
Candidates issued certification to teach prekindergarten through grade six after Jan. 1, 2021, must demonstrate proficiency on the science of teaching reading certification exam.
Disciplinary alternative education program teachers are required to be fully certified.
Persons seeking certification to teach applied STEM courses must pass the certification test administered by the recognized group that created the curriculum on which the STEM course is based.
SBEC rules require that a certified teacher assigned out of field must consent to the activation of an emergency permit and be advised of the conditions of the emergency permit.
A teacher who refuses may not be terminated or nonrenewed or otherwise retaliated against because of the teacher’s refusal to consent to the activation of the emergency permit. However, a teacher’s refusal does not impair a school district’s right to implement a necessary reduction in force or other personnel actions in accordance with local school district policy.
Without obtaining initial, standard certification, an individual may not serve for more than three school years in the same assignment while holding an intern, probationary, emergency or one-year certificate.
New legislation (HB 1178) changes current statutory provisions for out-of-state certified educators seeking Texas certification, to require the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) to establish a temporary certificate for these educators if they have not yet met Texas certification exam requirements. Out-of-state certified educators who hold a valid, non-temporary certificate in another state and a bachelor’s degree from an accredited education institution are eligible to apply for the temporary certificate, which must be issued immediately upon application. A temporary certificate can be rescinded by SBEC if it is determined that the person did not meet eligibility requirements and expires on the earlier of the first anniversary of the date the certificate was issued or the date the person is issued a Texas certificate. A temporary certificate issued to the spouse of an active duty U.S. Armed Forces member expires on the third anniversary of the date the certificate was issued. Temporary certificates may not be reissued or renewed.
State law allows the commissioner to adopt rules establishing exceptions to these certification exam requirements for out-of-state/out-of-country certified educators. The commissioner’s rules require that applicants requesting an exemption from most Texas educator certification exam requirements meet the following requirements:
Note: Additional requirements apply for those seeking exemption from the science of teaching reading exam.
Failure to obtain or maintain certification or a permit renders an employee’s contract void, unless the employee timely fulfills renewal requirements but suffers a bureaucratic delay causing the certificate/permit to lapse. Districts may terminate an employee’s contract that is void, unless the employee requests and takes necessary steps to receive an extension from SBEC to renew the certificate/permit within 10 days after the contract becomes void. Find more information about contracts here.
Certification renewal deadlines can be extended in hardship situations involving catastrophic illness or injury of an educator or immediate family member. Military service members receive two additional years to complete all renewal requirements.
A local school district may apply for a hardship exemption on behalf of an educator who has an invalid certificate due to not earning the required continuing professional education (CPE) hours. The hardship exemption is valid for the academic year of the application and may be renewed up to one additional academic year, provided that the superintendent or designee of the local school district requests the extension.
All applicants for certification who have not previously held a certificate issued by SBEC are required to undergo fingerprinting and a national criminal history background check prior to becoming certified.
Additionally, any individual enrolled/planning to enroll in an educator preparation program for teacher certification or planning to take a certification exam, who has reason to believe that they may be ineligible for certification due to a conviction or deferred adjudication for a felony or misdemeanor offense, can ask TEA to issue a criminal history evaluation letter regarding the person’s eligibility for a teaching certificate. The fee for such a request is $50. Find more information on fingerprinting and the national criminal history background check here.
Anyone holding a valid Texas public school educator certificate can view his/her certificate through the secure Certificate Lookup.
The virtual certificate is the official record of an educator’s certification status, eliminating the need for school districts and individuals to keep paper copies on file.
The virtual certificate satisfies the requirement of the Texas Education Code to present a certificate prior to employment with a school district. Virtual certificates are posted immediately upon approval, and a printable version is available.
If you have certification questions, call TEA’s credentialing division at 512-936-8400. More information on certification and how to become a teacher is available via the Texas Educators link on the TEA website.
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