Texas special education certification: EC-12, the Specialist EC-12 certificate and TExES 186

1. The newer certificate: Special Education Specialist EC-12 and TExES 186

SBEC’s rule on special education certificates, 19 TAC §233.8, says: “The Special Education Specialist: Early Childhood-Grade 12 certificate may be issued no earlier than September 1, 2025.” TEA’s one-page guide to the change (updated October 2024) says: “The Special Education Specialist EC-12 (186) certificate represents a new certification area.” It also says: “Any candidate enrolling starting September 2025 will take the Special Education Specialist EC-12 (186) exam.” The same guide, written ahead of the change, said: “The new Special Education Specialist EC-12 (186) exam is scheduled to launch September 2, 2025.” The test is now listed on the Texas Educator Certification Examination Program site, which Pearson, TEA’s test vendor, runs.

This is TExES 186 as Pearson’s test page listed it on October 20, 2026:

The pedagogy test. SBEC’s required-exam figure pairs 186 with “160 PPR EC–12 TExES or 2012 edTPA: Special Education”. Test 160 is Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities EC-12; Pearson listed its fee at $116.

Retakes. Texas law says: “A person may not retake an examination more than four times, unless the board waives the limitation for good cause”. SBEC’s assessment rule adds that a candidate “cannot retake the examination before 30 days have elapsed following the candidate’s last attempt to pass the examination.” The HB 2 (2025) fee waiver covers the first attempt only (section 5).

2. Special Education EC-12 and test 161: what changed

The older certificate is Special Education: Early Childhood-Grade 12 (Special Education EC-12), which SBEC’s rule allows from September 1, 2003. Its test was 161. TEA’s Educator Testing page (dated June 24, 2026) says that 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. (An older TEA test chart, dated May 2024, gives August 31, 2026 as the last date to apply with a 161 score.)

If you already hold Special Education EC-12

SBEC’s special education assignment rule, 19 TAC §231.701, lists the certificates that allow a public school assignment as a special education teacher. It says: “The provisions of this section are effective September 1, 2025, unless otherwise specified in rule.” Its list includes both the new Special Education Specialist: Early Childhood-Grade 12 and the older Special Education: Early Childhood-Grade 12, along with Special Education Supplemental, Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments Supplemental, Deafblind Supplemental, the two certificates that may be issued from 2027 (section 3), and “any special education certificate issued before September 1, 2003, and deemed appropriate by the employing school district”.

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 (our Texas teaching certificate guide covers renewal). TEA does not say this in one sentence, so if your situation turns on it, ask TEA.

Special education teachers of record

The same rule adds a second requirement for a special education teacher who serves as the teacher of record and is responsible for evaluating student achievement and assigning grades: “a valid certificate that matches the subject and grade level of the assignment is also required,” or the teacher must show content competency through the state’s “Texas Content Competency Worksheet for Special Education Teachers of Record (Grades EC-12).” TEA’s Special Education Personnel Assignment Guidance page has the worksheet. These are rules for assignments in Texas public schools.

3. Other special education certificates in Texas

Rule §233.8 lists seven special education certificates, each with the earliest date it may be issued. Some are supplemental certificates, which are added to a base certificate: “A supplemental certificate may be issued only to a person who already holds the appropriate standard base certificate.” Here they are with the tests in SBEC’s exam figure and the fees on Pearson’s test pages on October 20, 2026:

Teaching students with visual impairments. Texas law adds its own condition. It begins: “To be eligible to be issued a certificate to teach students with visual impairments, a person must:”, and then requires the course work in an approved educator preparation program, or an alternative certification program the board approves for the purpose, before the exams.

A new combined certificate. A separate rule, §233.2(e), creates Core/Special Education with the Science of Teaching Reading: Early Childhood-Grade 6, which also may be issued no earlier than September 1, 2027. SBEC’s exam figure pairs it with test 293, Science of Teaching Reading, and gives its content test as 591, while TEA’s testing page lists “Core EC–6 w/ Special Education (810)”. Check the number with TEA before you plan for it.

Does special education certification need the Science of Teaching Reading test?

Texas law says that “in order to teach any grade level from prekindergarten through grade six a person must demonstrate proficiency in the science of teaching reading” on a certification exam, “for each class of certificate issued by the board after January 1, 2021.” SBEC applies this through test 293 for five certificate areas: Early Childhood: Prekindergarten-Grade 3; Core Subjects with the Science of Teaching Reading, Early Childhood-Grade 6 and Grades 4-8; English Language Arts and Reading with the Science of Teaching Reading, Grades 4-8; and English Language Arts and Reading/Social Studies with the Science of Teaching Reading, Grades 4-8 (19 TAC §235.101). In SBEC’s exam figure, the rows for 186 and the older 161 list the special education test and the pedagogy test, not 293. The new Core/Special Education certificate above does include 293.

Educational Diagnostician

Educational Diagnostician is a student services certificate, not a classroom teaching certificate. SBEC’s rule asks for an approved diagnostician preparation program, the TExES 253 exam (Pearson listed it at $200, with a passing score of 240), and three more conditions. The candidate must “hold, at a minimum, a master’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education”, must “hold a valid classroom teaching certificate” and must “have three creditable years of teaching experience as a classroom teacher”. Renewal takes 200 clock-hours of continuing professional education every five years. The certificate cannot be added by exam.

SBEC’s 2026 review of Chapter 233 (comments October 16 to November 16, 2026)

On October 16, 2026, the Texas Register published SBEC’s review of Chapter 233, the chapter that lists these certificates. The notice says “the SBEC will accept comments as to whether the reasons for adopting 19 TAC Chapter 233 continue to exist.” On timing, it says: “The comment period on the review of 19 TAC Chapter 233 begins October 16, 2026, and ends November 16, 2026.” A rule review does not change the rule’s text by itself.

4. Routes in: a preparation program, or adding a certificate by exam

A Texas educator preparation program

If you hold no standard teaching certificate yet, the route is an approved Texas educator preparation program (EPP), which recommends its candidates for certification. Candidates who enroll from September 2025 take test 186 and a pedagogy test (section 1). While serving a paid internship, a candidate holds an intern or probationary certificate: SBEC’s rule says the candidate “must be a participant in good standing of an approved Texas EPP, serving in an acceptable, paid internship supervised by the EPP.” A probationary certificate is valid for 12 months. An intern certificate is valid for 12 months too, but from assignments for the 2026-2027 school year, intern certificates for eligible candidates in alternative certification programs are issued for two years. Without a standard certificate, a person may serve no more than three 12-month periods on any mix of intern, probationary, emergency and one-year certificates.

Adding special education to a Texas certificate by exam

SBEC’s rule, 19 TAC §230.105, says a teacher who holds a valid provisional, professional, standard or enhanced standard classroom teaching certificate (or a valid Texas temporary certificate issued to a teacher from another state or country) and a bachelor’s degree “may qualify for an additional teaching field or certification to teach at another level by passing the appropriate certification examination(s)”. It adds: “If a teacher holds multiple teaching certificates, all teaching certificates must be active before adding certification by examination.”

TEA’s Additional Certification by Exam Information page (dated September 25, 2026) sets out the steps: register for the exam with the testing company (TEA does not give the exams), then log in to your educator account, verify your passing scores and choose Additional Certification by Examination from the Applications menu. The new area is added once the application is approved and a clear background check is confirmed. The page warns: “Passing an examination does not automatically add the certification to the standard certificate.” It also says “an educator with an expired standard certificate would need to renew that certificate before the additional certification area can be added.”

What cannot be added by exam. The rule excludes initial certification; the Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments Supplemental; Early Childhood: Prekindergarten-Grade 3; the Deafblind Supplemental; another class of certificate, such as Educational Diagnostician; and any certificate with no exam. TEA’s page lists four of these and leaves out the Deafblind Supplemental, which the rule does exclude. As we read the rule, Special Education Specialist EC-12 and Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing are on neither list, and TEA’s June 2025 letter on the HB 2 waivers says the exam waivers are “available to teacher candidates pursuing initial certification and certified educators pursuing additional certification by examination”, with test 186 on its list.

The fee. SBEC’s fee rule sets: “Addition of certification based on completion of appropriate examination--$75.” TEA’s charged amounts can be a few dollars higher than the rule’s (for a standard certificate, the rule says $75 and TEA’s documents say $78). For the special education certificates on TEA’s HB 2 (2025) list, TEA waives the application fee on this route (section 5).

If your certificate is from another state

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.” An out-of-state teacher with a standard certificate starts with a Review of Credentials, and TEA says that “any out-of-state certificate submitted for a Review of Credentials must be both valid and active at the time the complete application is received.” For someone with no standard certificate, the same page says: “Without a standard teaching certificate, you are not eligible for a review of credentials.” Our Texas teaching certificate guide covers the review, its fees and the exam exemptions.

5. HB 2 (2025): the special education fee waivers

HB 2 (2025) added a section to the Texas Education Code, §21.0411, that tells SBEC, “for a person applying for a certification in special education, bilingual education, or another area specified by the General Appropriations Act”, to waive “a certification examination fee imposed by the board for the first administration of the examination to the person;” and “a fee associated with the application for certification by the person.”

TEA’s HB 2 certification page (dated October 5, 2026) says the law provides fee waivers for the “first administration of applicable special education and/or bilingual education certification examinations taken June 4, 2025, or later,” and for the application fees for the matching certificates. Its special education areas are Special Education Specialist: Early Childhood – Grade 12 (test 186), Teacher of Deaf and Hard of Hearing: Early Childhood – Grade 12 (181), Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments Supplemental: Early Childhood – Grade 12 (182) and Deafblind Supplemental: Early Childhood – Grade 12 (185). TEA’s June 2025 letter also lists test 283, Braille. Special Education Supplemental is not on the page’s list.

• The exam fee, first attempt only. TEA: “Eligible examination registration fees will be automatically waived during the test registration process” on the test program’s website. The waiver is for the first administration of the exam to you.
• The application fee, on two routes. TEA: “Eligible certification application fees will be waived for intern, probationary, and standard certificate applications through Texas educator preparation programs (EPPs) and via the additional certification by examination pathway.” TEA no longer asks for a help desk ticket, but “everyone enrolled in a Texas EPP must first be recommended for certification before the HB 2 $78 application fee waiver can be fully executed.” The page does not mention teachers applying from another state through a Review of Credentials; if that is you, ask TEA whether the application fee is waived.
• What you still pay. TEA’s June 2025 letter: “Candidates in educator preparation programs seeking these certifications will still be required to pay for their pedagogy test and fingerprinting fees.” TEA’s fingerprinting page (dated October 14, 2026) gives the current fingerprint fees: “Pay the required $42 fee ($40 fingerprinting fee plus $2 credit card processing fee).” and “At the appointment, you must pay an additional $10 to IdentoGO for fingerprint scanning.” TEA’s HB 2 page and its June 2025 letter do not mention renewal fees.

6. HB 2 (2025) and certified teachers in Texas public schools

HB 2 (2025) also added Education Code §21.0032: “A school district may not employ as a teacher of record for a course in the foundation curriculum under Section 28.002 a person” who does not hold an appropriate certificate or permit from SBEC. It applies from the 2026-2027 school year. TEA’s HB 2 certification page reads it as a two-step phase-in:

• “2026-2027 school year: K-5 reading and mathematics teachers must be appropriately certified.”
• “2027-2028 school year: All foundational subject teachers (i.e., reading/English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies), all grade levels must be appropriately certified.”

That is TEA’s summary. The statute’s own text has a one-year exception, for the 2026-2027 school year only, for a district whose local innovation plan exempts it from certification, covering “a course other than a reading language arts or mathematics course in a grade level above grade five”. The commissioner may also approve a district’s plan to delay compliance until before the 2029-2030 school year; TEA’s page links a “List of 572 approved districts and links to their locally-approved plans”. The section does not stop a district from receiving a waiver under §7.056 or issuing a school district teaching permit under §21.055.

For special education, SBEC’s assignment rule already asks a special education teacher of record for the matching content certificate or the content competency worksheet (section 2). These rules are duties of Texas school districts.

7. SpecialEdResource’s requirement, in its own words

SpecialEdResource’s hiring site states its requirement this way: “Special education certification and a current teaching license from any US state.” The application asks whether you hold a special education certification and whether you hold a current teaching license from a US state. If your license has expired or is inactive, you can still apply, as long as you’ll renew it before you start. We check licenses before the first interview.

Where you live is a separate question on the application. Texas is one of the 15 states where SpecialEdResource can currently employ tutors, so Texas residents can apply.

The job’s other requirements are on the job page. For questions about a Texas certificate, call TEA’s Educator Certification line, (512) 936-8400, option 2, or see TEA’s certification page.