Texas teaching certificate (license) lookup and renewal, including inactive certificates and certificates from other states

1. How to look up a Texas teaching certificate

Texas educator certificates are issued by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) under the rules of the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC). Anyone can check a Texas educator’s certificate on TEA’s public lookup, and the record it shows is the official one: “The virtual certificate is considered to be the official record of educator certification in Texas that satisfies the Texas Education Code, §21.053(a).”

• Where: TEA’s Certificate Lookup page, which links to SBEC’s Official Record of Educator Certificates search.
• How to search: “Enter the educator’s first and last name. The name must match what is in the TEA database.” The search form asks for a last name and first name, with the middle name optional, and allows a hyphen in a compound last name.
• History: “Current certificates and, when applicable, certificate history can be accessed by selecting the link at the top of the certificate record.”
• Viewing tips: “Please use Google Chrome when viewing a certificate.” TEA also asks you to check that the official record date at the bottom of the certificate shows the present date.
• Letters: the search page says “SBEC does not provide individually prepared letters of professional standing or verification of a Texas educator's certification status.” If another state’s licensing agency has a PDF fillable form to verify your Texas certificate, TEA’s lookup page says you may submit it through TEA’s help desk.

Your own certificate

“As of January 2011, TEA no longer mails paper certificates.” Your certificates and applications are in the Educator Certification Online System (ECOS), which you reach by logging in to your TEA Login (TEAL) account. TEA’s ECOS page says ECOS “allows educators to view certification records, apply for certification, and manage certification-related activities.” To set up the account, “A valid social security number is required to establish an educator account.” If you once held a Texas certificate, TEA asks you to try the forgot-password and forgot-username options before creating a new account, because a duplicate account can cause delays.

2. Certificate types and how long they last

SBEC’s rule (19 TAC §230.31) defines a type of certificate as “a designation of the period of validity for a certificate” and lists nine: standard, provisional, professional, one year, intern, probationary, emergency, educational aide and enhanced standard. Separately, a certificate’s class is the role: classroom teacher, principal, superintendent, reading specialist, legacy master teacher, school librarian, school counselor or educational diagnostician. The types a teacher is most likely to hold:

• Five years: the rule says “Effective September 1, 1999, the standard certificate shall be issued for all classes of certificates and shall be valid for five years,” subject to SBEC’s renewal rules. TEA’s renewal page puts it this way: “Since September 1, 1999, the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) has issued the standard certificate, which is subject to renewal every five years.”
• When it renews: “The renewal date of a standard certificate shall be five years after the last day of the certificate holder's next birth month.” If you hold several certificates, they renew together, on one date tied to the year your earliest certificate was issued.
• Lifetime certificates: the rule 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.”
• Lifetime certificates from before 1986: rule §230.21 says “The holder of a lifetime Texas certificate effective before February 1, 1986, must pass examinations prescribed by the SBEC to be eligible for continued certification, unless the individual has passed the Texas Examination of Current Administrators and Teachers (TECAT).” TEA’s Revalidating a Lifetime Certificate page traces this to House Bill 72 (1984) and says: “If you need to revalidate your certification, please submit a TEA Help Desk ticket.” It adds: “You may revalidate using a TExES examination in specific content area.”
• No retired certificate: the rule’s list has no retired type, and SBEC’s renewal rules, its fee rule and TEA’s certification and renewal pages, as read for this guide, don’t mention retirement. Only provisional and professional certificates issued before September 1, 1999, are valid for life, whether or not the holder has retired. If you are unsure about your own certificate, ask TEA (section 6).

Special education certificates, their TExES tests and adding a certificate by exam are in our special education certification guide.

3. How to renew a standard certificate

TEA’s renewal page says: “Texas standard certificates are valid for five years and must be renewed through the Educator Certification Online System (ECOS).” And: “To renew your standard certificate, you must apply and pay online through the Educator Certification Online System (ECOS).” The steps it gives:

1. Log in to your TEAL account.
2. Click “View My Educator Certification Account” to reach ECOS, check that your profile is accurate and click Continue.
3. Select Applications, then “Renew a Standard Certificate.” “When renewing certificates in ECOS, you must renew all standard certificates at the same time.”
4. Follow the prompts to complete the application and pay.

• The reminder: “Six months before your certificate’s expiration date, you will receive an email reminder” at the address in your educator account. The rule is firm about it: “Failure to receive notice of the renewal requirement or deadline does not excuse the individual's obligation to renew or pay applicable fees.”
• Proof: you attest to your CPE in the application. TEA: “These records are not submitted to TEA during the certificate renewal process.” Keep them, because educators “must retain supporting documentation for five years,” and TEA may ask for them in an audit.

CPE hours

Continuing professional education (CPE) is completed during each five-year renewal period. TEA’s table:

• Several classroom teaching certificates: TEA says that when you check the one box in the renewal application, “all your standard certificates will be renewed at the same time for the one fee and the one set of required continuing professional education hours.”
• Different classes: if you hold, for example, a classroom teacher and an educational diagnostician certificate, the rule 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.” A class held for less than the full five years can be met with a prorated number of hours.
• Required topics: “All educators must receive CPE training regarding educating students with disabilities. This training must include information particular to educating students with dyslexia.” If you teach students with dyslexia, the rule adds: “The required CPE for educators who teach students with dyslexia must include training regarding new research and practices in educating students with dyslexia.”
• What it must relate to: “CPE must directly relate to the certificate(s) being renewed with a focus on the standards required for issuance and completed during each five-year renewal period.”
• How hours count: “One semester credit hour earned at an accredited institution of higher education is equivalent to 15 CPE clock-hours.” Independent study can be up to 20% of the hours, developing or presenting CPE up to 10%, and mentoring another educator up to 30%. An evidence-based mental health first aid or grief-informed and trauma-informed care program taught in person counts twice, up to 16 hours.
• Outside Texas: staff development completed through accredited public and private schools in other states “may be accepted”, and TEA’s page lists courses at accredited colleges outside Texas as eligible.
• No school job needed: “You do not need to be employed by a school district to complete CPE requirements or renew your Texas educator certificate.”

Approved CPE providers

TEA’s renewal page says only CPE from approved CPE providers is recognized for renewal. SBEC’s rule names the pre-approved CPE providers: SBEC, TEA, accredited colleges and universities, regional education service centers, Texas public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools, private schools as the rule defines them, and professional associations or non-profits that have offered professional development in Texas for at least five years and have federal tax-exempt status (or are a state association affiliated with a tax-exempt national association). Private companies and individuals must register with SBEC to offer CPE on their own behalf, or deliver it on behalf of a pre-approved CPE provider. TEA’s renewal page lists approved CPE providers by subject area. The rule puts the check on you: “It is the responsibility of the educator to verify the approval status of any CPE provider prior to completion of the CPE activities.”

Does tutoring count as CPE?

As we read SBEC’s rule (§232.15), its list of acceptable CPE activities (training from an approved CPE provider or sponsor, college courses, independent study, developing or presenting CPE, and mentoring another educator) does not include tutoring students. Ask TEA before you count any activity toward renewal.

Who can renew, and the fee

Under rule §232.7, to renew you must have completed your CPE; hold a valid standard certificate that is not suspended, surrendered in lieu of revocation or revoked; not be a respondent in a disciplinary proceeding, and comply with any SBEC disciplinary order; resolve any reported criminal history; “not be in arrears of child support, pursuant to the Texas Family Code, Chapter 232;” pay the renewal fee; and submit fingerprints as the rule requires.

The fee. SBEC’s fee rule (§230.101) sets “On-time renewal of a standard certificate--$20.” and “Additional fee for late renewal of a standard certificate--$10.” Renewal is one fee “regardless of the number of certificates being renewed”. The rule also adds a supplemental fee for paying online and gives no amount for it, and the TEA pages read for this guide don’t show the total charged at checkout.

4. Inactive (expired) certificates and reactivation

TEA’s renewal page: “If a standard certificate is not renewed by its expiration date, it will become inactive.” Under rule §232.1, an educator in that position “is ineligible for employment in a Texas public school district in a position for which a certificate is required” until the requirements are met. The certificate is not gone, and what you do next depends on where you work:

• No retesting: “Educators are not required to retake certification examinations solely because a certificate has expired.”
• The normal checks still apply: rule §232.9 says TEA staff approve reactivation “subject to verification that the educator is in compliance with §232.7 of this title”, the same renewal requirements as section 3 (CPE, fingerprints, no pending disciplinary case, criminal history resolved, child support current, fee paid).
• The new dates: “The renewal date of a reactivated certificate(s) shall be five years after the last day of the certificate holder's next birth month.” If you met every requirement before the certificate expired but applied after, it is valid from the day after the old expiration date. If it was inactive more than six months, it is valid from the date you completed your CPE hours, or from 60 days before your application if you finished the CPE more than 60 days before applying. A late fee applies in both cases.
• If you moved away: TEA’s out-of-state FAQ answers a teacher whose Texas certificate expired after a move: “After meeting the renewal requirements, you will need to renew the standard certificate you currently have in Texas.”

For SpecialEdResource’s tutoring job: 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.

5. Moving to Texas with another state’s certificate

TEA’s Out-of-State Certified Educators page: “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.” What Texas does instead is a review of credentials, to see whether your certification, experience and exams line up with Texas standards. The same page: “In many cases, individuals can qualify for exemptions from most or all required Texas examinations.”

• Who can apply: teachers who hold a standard (full, renewable) educator certificate from another U.S. state or territory. TEA: “Without a standard teaching certificate, you are not eligible for a review of credentials.”
• Valid and active: “House Bill 1178, enacted by the 89th Texas Legislature, requires 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.” TEA’s checklist adds: “Permits, Substandard, Temporary, and Substitute certificates are not accepted for review.”

How the review works

1. Create your TEAL and ECOS account. As section 1 notes, a valid Social Security number is required to set it up. TEA’s Out-of-State Certifications page asks you to use a personal email address and your name exactly as it appears on your official identification.
2. Apply for the review of credentials in ECOS and pay the fee. TEA’s checklist: “Your credentials will not be reviewed without the application and non-refundable fee of $164.00.”
3. Send your documents: upload a copy of your out-of-state certificate to ECOS, and have your college email your official transcript to TEA at OSC75@tea.texas.gov. TEA asks you not to have transcripts mailed. Send your test exemption documents at the same time (below).
4. Wait for the results letter: “Applicants should allow 6 to 8 weeks for processing.” The letter appears in the “My Documents” tab in ECOS. TEA’s Out-of-State Certifications page posts the current queue.
5. Next steps from the letter: if you qualify for a test exemption, you apply for the standard certificate; if you need Texas exams, you can take them and may ask for a one-year certificate to work meanwhile. TEA’s checklist lists the standard certificate application at $78.00 and the one-year certificate at $52.00. SBEC’s rule: “The one-year certificate is issued immediately following the successful completion of the credentials review and the fingerprinting and background check processes.” The rule adds that if you don’t meet the exam requirements while the one-year certificate is valid, you are “not eligible for any type of certificate or permit authorizing employment for the same certificate until he or she has satisfied the appropriate examination requirements.”

Skipping the Texas exams: the two test exemption options

TEA’s Out-of-State Educator Test Exemption Review page offers two options:

• Who verifies your experience: “The completed form must be submitted by the employing school where the experience was completed, via email to OSC75@tea.texas.gov.” If the experience was in a private school or outside the United States, an accreditation verification form is also required.
• The rule’s other conditions: commissioner’s rule §152.1001 also asks, whichever option you use, for a bachelor’s degree; a state-approved educator preparation program that included student teaching or a teaching practicum, completed in the state or country where your standard certificate was issued; at least one academic year of “verifiable, full-time experience in the certification class” you are seeking (two for a professional class certificate); and a certificate “that has not been revoked, suspended, or sanctioned for misconduct and is not pending disciplinary or adverse action.”
• Deadline for documents: “You have one year from the date you submit your Review of Credentials application to provide any additional documents for consideration.”
• The Science of Teaching Reading (STR) exam: TEA’s Out-of-State Certified Educators page lists five areas that need it: Early Childhood: EC–Grade 3; Core Subjects with STR: EC–Grade 6; Core Subjects with STR: Grades 4–8; English Language Arts and Reading with STR: Grades 4–8; and English Language Arts and Reading/Social Studies with STR: Grades 4–8. To skip it, your certificate must be equivalent to one that requires STR, and you must have passed a stand-alone test of the five components of reading, taken for licensure in one of the 24 states listed in §152.1001(c)(2)(B) (the rule is linked in the sources below). TEA: “Classroom teaching experience alone does not qualify an applicant for exemption from the STR exam.” If your state is not listed and you passed a required reading exam, TEA says you may still submit your scores for review.

Fingerprints and background checks

• Fees: TEA’s fingerprinting page (dated October 14, 2026): “Pay the required $42 fee ($40 fingerprinting fee plus $2 credit card processing fee).” “At the appointment, you must pay an additional $10 to IdentoGO for fingerprint scanning.” An out-of-state IdentoGO location adds a fee the page does not state.
• Other fingerprints don’t carry over: “Fingerprint results from other purposes (e.g., childcare employment, real estate license, foster parenting) or from other states are not shared with TEA.”
• Timing: TEA’s certification page says that “Due to recent legislative changes, TEA has implemented a more comprehensive background check process for certification applicants,” and that “TEA is unable to estimate how long an individual review will take”.

HB 2 (2025) fee waivers for special education certification are explained in our special education certification guide.

For SpecialEdResource’s tutoring job: licenses and special education certification from any US state are welcome. The hiring site also asks that you “live in one of the states where we can currently employ tutors”, and Texas is one of them, so Texas residents can apply. Your license can be from any US state; the state you live in is the one that has to be on the hiring list.

6. Contacts: TEA and TRS

• Online: your TEAL account, then ECOS, for applications, renewals, documents and payments; TEA’s Certification page for every certification topic; and the SBEC rules currently in effect.
• Phone: Educator Certification, (512) 936-8400, option 2. TEA’s pages say: “Phone support is available Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (CST).” They add: “You may also submit your questions through the TEA Help Desk.”
• Transcripts and experience forms for a credentials review: sent to OSC75@tea.texas.gov by your college or your employing school, not by you.
• Working after you retire: that is a question for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), not TEA, and our TRS employment after retirement guide explains its rules in TRS’s own words. 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).