Special education tutor job FAQ for Texas teachers

A part-time, remote W-2 job with SpecialEdResource: live, one-on-one online tutoring for students with IEPs, 504 plans and learning differences, one student at a time. See the full job

Yes. Texas is one of the 15 states where SpecialEdResource can currently employ tutors: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. Where you live is what counts, not which state issued your license. This site’s listing is for Texas; teachers in the other 14 states use the same application. What you need to apply · Apply on the hiring site

All subjects, from pre-K through 12th grade, plus adult learners. SpecialEdResource hires special education teachers of any subject and grade level.

Students with IEPs, 504 plans and learning differences. Our students attend public, charter and private schools or learn at home. Some students are nonspeaking and communicate with AAC or other supports, and some have multiple or more significant disabilities.

You have subscribed online resources and SpecialEdResource-created resources to work with, plus a full team that supports teachers and families. You also have a real person you can text or email when something comes up. We are truly a family that works hard to support one another.

SpecialEdResource handles info gathering. You handle your own scheduling, which is flexible. Once you take on a student, sessions recur at the same times each week. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit. You also handle most of the communication with families, by email. Planning is your part too: you choose and adapt materials for each student, because every child differs.

Yes. You decide which students you want to work with. Before a match, you see the student’s age, grade, disability category, recent work and the family’s goals, plus the student’s availability and deep details of their interests. If a match doesn’t work, SpecialEdResource rematches.

How many students you start with is very flexible and mainly up to you. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

No. You don’t write IEPs or attend IEP meetings.

Only if requested.

Zoom. You provide:

• a laptop or desktop with a webcam and microphone (your own; SpecialEdResource does not provide one);
• internet of at least 25 Mbps download;
• a quiet room; and
• a USB headset, which SpecialEdResource strongly recommends.

This is tutoring, not classroom teaching: you work with one student at a time, in live online sessions that usually last 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 1 hour, as a part-time W-2 employee of SpecialEdResource. Training is paid, and licenses and special education certification from any US state are welcome.

Starting pay: $23/hour, W-2. All tutors can earn a 10% performance bonus in any pay period when they tutor at least 10 hours and turn in session notes on time. Notes count as on time when they’re turned in within 48 hours after each session. Pay and schedule

Twice a month, on the 5th and 20th, by direct deposit.

W-2. You’re an employee: SpecialEdResource withholds federal income tax and your share of Social Security and Medicare, pays the employer’s half (7.65% of your pay) and carries workers’ comp. You get a W-2 each January.

You're paid for tutoring time. Prep and notes are not paid separately; the session rate covers them. For the notes, SpecialEdResource provides AI summary tools that make note-writing mostly copy and paste.

Yes. No-shows are always paid.

Yes. Training and onboarding are both paid. Platform training takes about an hour.

Raises above the starting rate are based on performance, going above and beyond, and results with your students.

No. Health insurance isn't provided for part-time roles at these hours.

Our greatest need is weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern: that is 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Central in most of Texas, and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mountain in El Paso and Hudspeth counties. Evening and weekend tutors are welcome too: tell us when you can teach. You don’t need to cover every grade, subject or time. Once you take on a student, sessions recur at the same times each week. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

At least 5 hours of weekly availability. Tutors with us work 5 to 25 hours a week. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

No. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

Sessions usually last 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 1 hour. On average, a student meets with their tutor 2 to 3 times a week.

Most students keep meeting through summer and school breaks.

Yes. Tell us as far ahead as you can (usually a week is plenty). Occasional time off carries no penalty.

Four things. You need to:

• hold a special education certification;
• hold a current teaching license from a US state, or one you’ll renew before you start;
• live in one of the states where we can currently employ tutors (Texas is one; the full list is above); and
• be comfortable with the role’s $23/hour W-2 pay terms.

No. The requirement is special education certification and a current teaching license, both from any US state. Your license doesn’t need to be from the state where the student lives. We check licenses before the first interview.

TEA, the Texas Education Agency, issues Texas educator certificates under the rules of the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC). The newer special education certificate is Special Education Specialist: Early Childhood-Grade 12. SBEC’s certificate rule says: “The Special Education Specialist: Early Childhood-Grade 12 certificate may be issued no earlier than September 1, 2025.” TEA says: “The Special Education Specialist EC-12 (186) certificate represents a new certification area.”

The older certificate is Special Education: Early Childhood-Grade 12 (Special Education EC-12). TEA’s testing page says its test, 161, and the Special Education Supplemental test, 163, “were last offered on August 31, 2025, and can be used for certification through September 1, 2026.” Both dates have passed. SBEC’s special education assignment rule, which says “The provisions of this section are effective September 1, 2025, unless otherwise specified in rule.”, still lists “Special Education: Early Childhood-Grade 12” beside “Special Education Specialist: Early Childhood-Grade 12”. As we read TEA’s and SBEC’s texts, no rule or TEA page requires a current holder to take test 186 or to get the new certificate, and the older certificate is renewed like any standard certificate. TEA does not say this in one sentence, so if your situation turns on it, ask TEA.

That is SBEC’s list for Texas public school assignments. Our application asks whether you hold a special education certification. We check licenses before the first interview. Texas special education certification guide

Use TEA’s public Certificate Lookup page, which leads to the search in TEA’s Educator Certification Online System (ECOS). It says: “Enter the educator’s first and last name. The name must match what is in the TEA database.” It adds: “Current certificates and, when applicable, certificate history can be accessed by selecting the link at the top of the certificate record.” TEA also says “The virtual certificate is considered to be the official record of educator certification in Texas”. Looking up a Texas certificate

You can still apply, as long as you’ll renew it before you start. The application’s license question says:

Answer Yes if your license is current, or if it has expired or is inactive and you’ll renew it before you start. We check licenses before the first interview.

In Texas, TEA’s renewal page says: “If a standard certificate is not renewed by its expiration date, it will become inactive.” It also says: “Educators who are not currently employed by a Texas school district do not need a hardship exemption because there is no deadline for renewing an inactive certificate.” And: “Educators are not required to retake certification examinations solely because a certificate has expired.” You still complete the renewal hours and apply online, and SBEC’s renewal rule approves a reactivation “subject to verification that the educator is in compliance with §232.7 of this title”: the same eligibility checks as an on-time renewal, among them submitted fingerprints and the fee. For your own case, contact TEA’s Educator Certification line, (512) 936-8400, option 2. Renewing an expired Texas certificate

TEA’s renewal page says: “Since September 1, 1999, the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) has issued the standard certificate, which is subject to renewal every five years.” SBEC’s renewal rule says: “The renewal date of a standard certificate shall be five years after the last day of the certificate holder's next birth month.” TEA adds: “To renew your standard certificate, you must apply and pay online through the Educator Certification Online System (ECOS).”

For each five-year period, the rule says: “Classroom teacher certificate holders shall complete 150 clock-hours.” (Educational diagnosticians and some other certificate classes need 200.) If you hold more than one class of certificate, it says: “An educator holding multiple classes of certificates shall complete the higher number of required CPE clock-hours in the classes held during each five-year renewal period unless otherwise specified in applicable State Board for Educator Certification rules codified in the Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Part 7.” It also says: “All educators must receive CPE training regarding educating students with disabilities.” “This training must include information particular to educating students with dyslexia.” TEA’s page says: “You do not need to be employed by a school district to complete CPE requirements or renew your Texas educator certificate.” Questions: TEA’s Educator Certification line, (512) 936-8400, option 2.

For older certificates, SBEC’s rule on certificate types says: “All provisional and professional educator certificates issued prior to September 1, 1999, shall be valid for the life of the individual”, “unless suspended, surrendered in lieu of revocation, or revoked by lawful authority.” Its assessment rule adds that “The holder of a lifetime Texas certificate effective before February 1, 1986, must pass examinations prescribed by the SBEC” and gives one exception: “unless the individual has passed the Texas Examination of Current Administrators and Teachers (TECAT).” Renewing a Texas certificate

Not for this job. Licenses and special education certification from any US state are welcome. If you want a Texas certificate as well, TEA’s page for out-of-state certified educators says: “Texas does not have reciprocity with any other state, meaning it does not automatically recognize or accept out-of-state teaching certificates to move into immediate issuance of a standard certificate in Texas.” It also says: “In many cases, individuals can qualify for exemptions from most or all required Texas examinations.” You start with a Review of Credentials, applied for online; TEA says “any out-of-state certificate submitted for a Review of Credentials must be both valid and active”, and: “Applicants should allow 6 to 8 weeks for processing.” Its application checklist says: “Your credentials will not be reviewed without the application and non-refundable fee of $164.00.” Certificates from other states

Yes, you can apply. Retired teachers anywhere in Texas are welcome, on the same terms as everyone else (what you need to apply). If you draw a benefit from TRS, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, here is what its rules say in general; ask TRS how they apply to you.

In your first months of retirement, ask TRS before you take any job. TRS says: “All retirees must observe a one full, calendar-month break in service after their effective retirement date to avoid revoking their retirement.” and “Returning to work for a TRS-covered employer in the month directly following your effective retirement date will revoke your retirement.” TRS writes these rules for work with a TRS-covered employer, and work through a company that such an employer retains to provide personnel can count as that work for a retiree who “performs services for or on behalf of a TRS-covered employer” (TRS’s third-party entity rule). TRS’s brochure (Employment After Retirement: How it Works for You, September 2025) says: “Service retirees may work without limits for an employer not covered by TRS without losing any monthly annuity payments.” That sentence has conditions. TRS defines a TRS-covered employer as “A public, state-supported educational institution in Texas, including school districts, charter schools, education service centers, and institutions of higher education.” Work through a company can count as work for such an employer: TRS says “A third-party entity is an entity retained by a TRS-covered employer to provide personnel to the institution to perform duties or provide services that an employee of the institution would normally perform or provide.” and “If a TRS retiree is employed by a third-party entity and the retiree performs services for or on behalf of a TRS-covered employer, the retiree will be considered employed in Texas public education for the purpose of EAR.” TRS’s Benefits Handbook words it as work that “may qualify”: if “you are employed by a third-party entity and perform work for or on behalf of a TRS-covered employer at any time after your retirement, that work may qualify as employment for the purposes of EAR if the work would normally be performed by an employee.” Texas law (Government Code §824.601(d)) says: “A retiree who is an employee of a third-party entity is considered to be employed by a Texas public educational institution” for purposes of that subchapter “unless the retiree does not perform duties or provide services on behalf of or for the benefit of the institution.” If you are a TRS disability retiree, your limits are different. TRS says: “Disability retirees may also work an unlimited amount of time for an employer not covered by TRS but may be subject to compensation limits.” For work with a TRS-covered employer, a disability retiree may use only the substitute, one-half time or less and non-profit tutor exceptions (apart from a one-time trial work period), for no more than 90 days in a school year in all, and TRS adds: “Please note: The 12 full, consecutive-calendar-month break in service is not available to disability retirees.” On the trial work period TRS says: “As a disability retiree, you are allowed a one-time only trial work period to determine if you can return to work full time.” “This trial period must be three consecutive months.” “To opt for the trial work period, you must notify TRS by submitting the Employment after Retirement Disability Election form (TRS 118D), found on the TRS website.” “The TRS 118D must be filed with TRS before the end of the trial period for the election to be effective.” “The trial work period cannot be elected in the same school year you retired.” “If you continue to work full time after the trial work period has ended, you will be recovered from disability retirement and returned to active membership.” “You must repay any annuity payments that you received after being restored to active service.” “Any days you work during the three-month trial period do not count against the 90-day limit for a school year.” If you applied for disability retirement after Aug. 31, 2007 and your retirement took effect after that date, TRS limits what you may earn: “The compensation cap is based on your income during a calendar year.” “The limit is the highest salary received in any school year before disability retirement or $40,000, whichever is greater.” “The limit applies to all employment even employment with a non TRS-covered employer.” “This limit does not apply to retirees receiving gross disability retirement benefits of $2,000 or less per year.” “If you’re subject to the cap, you must correctly report your compensation to TRS by May 1 of the calendar year after the compensation was earned.” TRS adds: “If you exceed the amount of compensation allowed, you will forfeit your disability annuity payment and you will be required to pay for the full cost of your TRS-Care coverage, until you are able to report that your compensation is below the established limit.” TRS’s brochure also says: “Do not rely on information provided to you by another retiree, co-worker or even your employer.” Confirm your own situation with TRS before you start: call 800-223-8778, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central (TRS’s contact page, read October 20, 2026).

TRS’s own pages: its Employment After Retirement (EAR) page and Contact TRS page, and its brochure, Employment After Retirement: How it Works for You (September 2025). Our TRS employment after retirement guide

These rules are for work with a TRS-covered employer, which TRS’s brochure defines as “A public, state-supported educational institution in Texas, including school districts, charter schools, education service centers, and institutions of higher education.”

For work with a TRS-covered employer, TRS says: “You must always have a one full, calendar-month break in service before you may return to work for a TRS-covered employer even if the work qualifies for an EAR exception.” and “Returning to work for a TRS-covered employer in the month directly following your effective retirement date will revoke your retirement.” TRS adds that “Your effective retirement date with TRS will always be the last calendar day of the month that you retire”. The June 15 rule: TRS says “If you must work into the month of June to complete work required for the school year, you may establish a May 31 retirement date provided you terminate your employment no later than June 15.” “You must also file your retirement application no later than July 31.” If you use it, “you may not return to work from June 15 through July 31; otherwise, you will revoke your retirement.” TRS also says “an early-age retiree may not negotiate with a TRS-covered employer, for any type of employment, before completing the one full, calendar-month break in service.” and that normal-age retirees “may not negotiate with a TRS-covered employer for any type of employment that would not qualify for an EAR exception before” completing that break.

Work for a TRS-covered employer through a company can count too: TRS says “If a TRS retiree is employed by a third-party entity and the retiree performs services for or on behalf of a TRS-covered employer, the retiree will be considered employed in Texas public education for the purpose of EAR.” and “Any employment with a third-party entity will also restart a retiree's 12-month break in service required to be eligible for full-time employment without restrictions.”

A separate 12-month break applies to full-time work: see the full-time answer below. Confirm your own situation with TRS (800-223-8778) before you start.

TRS’s own pages: its Employment After Retirement (EAR) page and Contact TRS page, and its brochure, Employment After Retirement: How it Works for You (September 2025). The break in service, in our TRS employment after retirement guide

These rules are for work with a TRS-covered employer, which TRS’s brochure defines as “A public, state-supported educational institution in Texas, including school districts, charter schools, education service centers, and institutions of higher education.”

TRS’s Employment After Retirement (EAR) page says: “EAR limits apply to service retirees who retired after Jan. 1, 2021 and disability retirees (regardless of retirement date) who are working for a TRS-covered employer under the one-half time or less exception.” and “EAR limits can vary depending on when you retired or what kind of job you have, and TRS can help you understand the specific limits or requirements that apply to you.” TRS’s brochure says: “In general, a TRS retiree who works for a TRS-covered employer during a month will forfeit his or her annuity for that month unless the retiree or the retiree’s employment qualifies for an exception.” “Service retirees with an effective retirement date on or before Jan. 1, 2021 are not subject to the EAR restrictions.” (They still need the one full, calendar-month break before working for a TRS-covered employer.) “Disability retirees are subject to the EAR restrictions regardless of their effective retirement date.” For service retirees, the brochure says that if you exceed the limits, “you will first be notified of an EAR violation without loss of annuity.” If you exceed them again, “you will receive a second warning and be required to pay TRS what you earned for the month that you exceeded the EAR limits or the gross amount of your annuity payment for that month, whichever is less.” A third time, “you will forfeit your full monthly annuity for each month that you exceeded the limits.” And “you will only receive a first and second strike once in your retirement. Your strikes do not reset each school year.” “Please note the three strikes warning procedure does not apply to disability retirees.”

Substitute work: Texas law allows work “as a substitute only with pay not more than the daily rate of substitute pay established by the employer”. TRS’s brochure says: “You may work without any limit on the number of hours and days if:” “the position is not vacant;” “you are not paid more than the daily rate of pay established by the employer;” “and you do not perform any other type of work for a TRS-covered employer in the same calendar month.” It adds: “You may work as a substitute in a vacant position for up to 20 days during a school year” and “that position must not be vacant because you retired from it.” “Working any part of a day, as a substitute, counts as working a full day.”

One-half time or less: TRS says “This employment type allows you to work up to 92 hours per month.” and “if you work for more than one TRS-covered employer during a month, you are still limited to 92 hours total”; “TRS-covered employers are required by law to report all hours worked, even Saturdays and Sundays, and any paid leave.” TRS adds that “if you work as a substitute and in a one-half time or less position in the same month, your combined work must not exceed 11 workdays in that calendar month.” and that before combining exceptions “a retiree should strongly consider contacting TRS for guidance before doing so.”

Work for a TRS-covered employer through a company can count too: TRS says “If a TRS retiree is employed by a third-party entity and the retiree performs services for or on behalf of a TRS-covered employer, the retiree will be considered employed in Texas public education for the purpose of EAR.” and “Any employment with a third-party entity will also restart a retiree's 12-month break in service required to be eligible for full-time employment without restrictions.”

If you are a TRS disability retiree, your limits are different. TRS says: “Disability retirees may also work an unlimited amount of time for an employer not covered by TRS but may be subject to compensation limits.” For work with a TRS-covered employer, a disability retiree may use only the substitute, one-half time or less and non-profit tutor exceptions (apart from a one-time trial work period), for no more than 90 days in a school year in all, and TRS adds: “Please note: The 12 full, consecutive-calendar-month break in service is not available to disability retirees.” On the trial work period TRS says: “As a disability retiree, you are allowed a one-time only trial work period to determine if you can return to work full time.” “This trial period must be three consecutive months.” “To opt for the trial work period, you must notify TRS by submitting the Employment after Retirement Disability Election form (TRS 118D), found on the TRS website.” “The TRS 118D must be filed with TRS before the end of the trial period for the election to be effective.” “The trial work period cannot be elected in the same school year you retired.” “If you continue to work full time after the trial work period has ended, you will be recovered from disability retirement and returned to active membership.” “You must repay any annuity payments that you received after being restored to active service.” “Any days you work during the three-month trial period do not count against the 90-day limit for a school year.” If you applied for disability retirement after Aug. 31, 2007 and your retirement took effect after that date, TRS limits what you may earn: “The compensation cap is based on your income during a calendar year.” “The limit is the highest salary received in any school year before disability retirement or $40,000, whichever is greater.” “The limit applies to all employment even employment with a non TRS-covered employer.” “This limit does not apply to retirees receiving gross disability retirement benefits of $2,000 or less per year.” “If you’re subject to the cap, you must correctly report your compensation to TRS by May 1 of the calendar year after the compensation was earned.” TRS adds: “If you exceed the amount of compensation allowed, you will forfeit your disability annuity payment and you will be required to pay for the full cost of your TRS-Care coverage, until you are able to report that your compensation is below the established limit.”

Confirm your own situation with TRS (800-223-8778) before you start.

TRS’s own pages: its Employment After Retirement (EAR) page and Contact TRS page, and its brochure, Employment After Retirement: How it Works for You (September 2025). Going back to a TRS-covered employer

These rules are for work with a TRS-covered employer, which TRS’s brochure defines as “A public, state-supported educational institution in Texas, including school districts, charter schools, education service centers, and institutions of higher education.”

Full time after a 12-month break (service retirees only; disability retirees cannot use it): Texas law allows work “on as much as a full-time basis, if the retiree has been separated from service with all Texas public educational institutions” “for at least 12 full consecutive months after the retiree's effective date of retirement;” TRS’s brochure says “You cannot work in any capacity in Texas public education during the 12-month break in service.” and “This break in service begins the day after your effective retirement date and ends on the last day of the 12th month.” Its Benefits Handbook says that during that 12-month break, “which can occur at any time during retirement, the service retiree cannot be employed by a TRS-covered employer in any capacity.” (The two documents differ on when the 12 months run; ask TRS.) TRS also says: “If you perform work as an independent contractor or volunteer for a TRS-covered employer during the first 12” consecutive calendar months after your effective retirement date “and that work would normally be done by an employee, you will be considered an employee instead of a volunteer or independent contractor.” Then “your work will restart your 12-month break in service required to be eligible for full-time employment without restrictions.”

The non-profit tutor exception: Texas law allows work “as a tutor under Section 33.913, Education Code.” TRS says “Tutoring programs under Section 33.913 are administered by school districts” and that the exception “does not cover all tutor work that a retiree performs for a school district if the retiree is affiliated with a non-profit entity.”

Surcharges, an employer’s cost: TRS says “Surcharges are additional contributions that TRS-covered employers must pay to TRS if they employ TRS retirees who retired after Sept. 1, 2005” “for more than one-half time during a month.” Its Benefits Handbook says that if you “work more than one-half time in a month, in most cases your employer(s) will owe TRS pension and health care surcharges.” TRS’s brochure says the health care surcharge “only applies if an employed retiree is a TRS-Care participant.” HB 2 (2025) repealed the Texas law that barred employers from passing these costs on to the retiree, effective June 20, 2025, and TRS removed the same ban from its own rules effective December 30, 2025 (Texas Register). TRS’s brochure now says: “an employer may require that a TRS retiree it employs share in the cost of these surcharges as a condition of employment.” “TRS does not review or approve these agreements.”

Confirm your own situation with TRS (800-223-8778) before you start.

TRS’s own pages: its Employment After Retirement (EAR) page and Contact TRS page, and its brochure, Employment After Retirement: How it Works for You (September 2025). Our TRS employment after retirement guide

For this job, the license rule is the same for everyone. The application’s license question says:

Answer Yes if your license is current, or if it has expired or is inactive and you’ll renew it before you start. We check licenses before the first interview.

In Texas, the SBEC rules and TEA certification pages we read do not mention retirement, and they list no separate certificate for retired teachers. As we read them, a retired teacher’s certificate follows the same rules as anyone else’s. TEA’s renewal page says: “Since September 1, 1999, the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) has issued the standard certificate, which is subject to renewal every five years.” and “You do not need to be employed by a school district to complete CPE requirements or renew your Texas educator certificate.” If a standard certificate lapses, it says: “If a standard certificate is not renewed by its expiration date, it will become inactive.” It also says: “Educators who are not currently employed by a Texas school district do not need a hardship exemption because there is no deadline for renewing an inactive certificate.” Renewal still takes the renewal hours, and SBEC’s renewal rule approves a reactivation “subject to verification that the educator is in compliance with §232.7 of this title” (see the renewal answers above). For your own case, contact TEA’s Educator Certification line, (512) 936-8400, option 2.

For older certificates, SBEC’s rule on certificate types says: “All provisional and professional educator certificates issued prior to September 1, 1999, shall be valid for the life of the individual”, “unless suspended, surrendered in lieu of revocation, or revoked by lawful authority.” Its assessment rule adds that “The holder of a lifetime Texas certificate effective before February 1, 1986, must pass examinations prescribed by the SBEC” and gives one exception: “unless the individual has passed the Texas Examination of Current Administrators and Teachers (TECAT).” After you retire: your Texas certificate

If you collect Social Security and are under full retirement age for all of 2026, SSA’s limit is $24,480 for the year. Above it, SSA withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn over the limit. If 2026 is the year you reach full retirement age, a higher limit applies: $65,160, counting only earnings in the months before you reach full retirement age, and SSA withholds $1 for every $3 above it. Either limit counts your wages from every job, not only this one, plus any net earnings from self-employment. The earnings test applies only before full retirement age. If you get Social Security disability benefits, other rules apply: SSA says, “If a disabled beneficiary performs any work activity, we look at that activity to determine whether the disability has ceased.” Ask SSA before you take any job. These are SSA’s 2026 figures. In your first year of benefits, a monthly limit may apply instead (SSA decides). SSA’s operating manual says “Do not count bona fide pension payments.” As we read SSA’s rules, that covers a TRS service retirement annuity. At $23 an hour, $24,480 is about 1,064 hours of tutoring in a year; at $25.30 an hour, the rate in a pay period when you earn the bonus, it is about 968 hours. The $25.30 figure holds only if every pay period earns the bonus; in a pay period that does not, every hour is paid at $23, so the real figure falls between the two, and wages from any other job count against the same limit. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit. SSA’s earnings test rules explain who the test applies to; check your own case with SSA. Texas teachers and Social Security

In Texas, whether a public school teacher pays into Social Security depends on the school district, and data from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) show that most Texas districts do not take part. NCES’s Texas summary says: “However, almost all (96.4%) teachers are not covered in Texas because the majority of school districts do not opt-in” It also says: “Texas is one of five states that has a mixed state policy where some teachers are covered by social security and some are not.” and “Teachers’ eligibility for social security coverage depends on what state and school district they work in.” (NCES story map, published 2019)

TRS’s Social Security page says: “The Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 (HR 82), which became law on Jan. 5, 2025, repealed two provisions that reduced or eliminated Social Security benefits for certain retirees.” It also says: “Your TRS benefit payments are not affected by Social Security.” and “The best and most direct source for information on how this may affect you is the Social Security Administration.” SSA’s number, as that page gives it: 1-800-772-1213. The Social Security Fairness Act (Public Law 118-273), approved January 5, 2025, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset for benefits payable for months after December 2023. Texas teachers and Social Security

Tutoring with SpecialEdResource is W-2 work: SpecialEdResource withholds federal income tax and your share of Social Security and Medicare, pays the employer’s half (7.65% of your pay) and carries workers’ comp.

The Texas Constitution, Article 8, Section 24-a (“INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX PROHIBITED”, added Nov. 5, 2019) says: “The legislature may not impose a tax on the net incomes of individuals, including an individual's share of partnership and unincorporated association income.” The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (Fiscal Notes, December 2025) says: “Texas has no state income tax.” Federal taxes are a separate question: for your own return, ask the IRS or a tax professional.

On SpecialEdResource’s hiring site, hiring.specialedresource.com, where every Apply button on this site leads. The application takes about two minutes, and a resume is required (PDF or Word, up to 10 MB). Apply now

If your answers meet every requirement, your next step is a short phone call with our AI assistant. You get a phone number and a personal code right after you apply, on screen and by email, and the call takes about 10 minutes. Prefer to talk with a person? Press 0 when the call starts. The call is recorded, and a person on our hiring team reviews it and makes every decision. The steps after that: team review, two interviews, a short mock lesson and the hiring decision. Your first interview is with Erin, and the second is with Luke Dalien, one of SpecialEdResource’s founders. How hiring works

Yes. Hiring includes a background check, paid by SpecialEdResource. License and background checks usually take 3 to 5 business days.

From hire to your first session could be a week or two.

studentsuccess@specialedresource.com