Tutoring after you retire from teaching in Texas

A part-time job for retired teachers: what online tutoring looks like

If you live in Texas, you can apply: it is one of the 15 states where SpecialEdResource can currently employ tutors. Retired teachers anywhere in the state are welcome. You’d tutor one student at a time, in live, one-on-one online sessions with students who have IEPs, 504 plans and learning differences. It’s part-time W-2 employment, and training is paid.

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. We ask for at least five hours a week of availability, and tutors work 5 to 25 hours a week. You decide which students you want to work with. How many students you start with is very flexible and mainly up to you. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

Each student has sessions with you an average of 2 to 3 times a week, and a session usually lasts 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 1 hour. Most students keep meeting through summer and school breaks.

See the full job description

Tutoring income: what the job pays

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.

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

Pay, the bonus and the schedule, in detail

Returning to work after retirement: TRS, your certificate and Social Security

Three things to check before you tutor after retiring. Each has a guide with the details.

1. Your TRS retirement annuity. Most of TRS’s Employment After Retirement (EAR) rules are about work for TRS-covered employers, such as Texas school districts, charter schools, education service centers and colleges. What TRS says about your first months of retirement, about employers it does not cover and the different rules for disability retirees are in the first row below. Here is what TRS’s documents say about three kinds of work:

   Work	What TRS’s rules say
   Any job in your first months of retirement, and work for employers TRS does not cover	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).
   Substitute or one-half time or less work for a Texas public school, charter school, education service center or college (TRS-covered employers), hired directly or through a company	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.” The June 15 rule, TRS’s EAR limits and its three strikes for service retirees, the substitute and one-half time or less exceptions, and work through a company (TRS’s third-party entity rule), each with its conditions in TRS’s words, are in sections 2 to 4 of our TRS employment after retirement guide. Go to that guide section
   Full-time work for a TRS-covered employer, or tutoring in a school district’s or charter school’s Education Code §33.913 program	Full time after a 12-month break (service retirees only; disability retirees cannot use it) and tutoring in a school district’s or charter school’s Education Code §33.913 program are TRS’s other EAR exceptions, each with conditions in TRS’s and Texas law’s words. They are in section 4 of our TRS employment after retirement guide, with TRS’s surcharge rules for retirees who work more than one-half time. Go to that guide section

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

   Sources: TRS’s brochure Employment After Retirement: How it Works for You (September 2025 edition, which says: “TRS laws and rules must remain the final authority.”), its Benefits Handbook, its contact page (read October 20, 2026), and Texas Government Code chapter 824. More detail on each rule, in TRS’s own words, is in our TRS employment after retirement guide.

2. Your teaching certificate. SpecialEdResource asks for special education certification and a teaching license from any US state, with the license current, or renewed before you start. In Texas, teaching licenses are called certificates. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) says on its renewal page: “Since September 1, 1999, the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) has issued the standard certificate, which is subject to renewal every five years.” It adds: “You do not need to be employed by a school district to complete CPE requirements or renew your Texas educator certificate.” Renewal takes continuing professional education (CPE). SBEC’s renewal rule says: “Classroom teacher certificate holders shall complete 150 clock-hours.” (Some other certificate classes, such as educational diagnostician, need 200, and someone with several classes completes the higher number.) It also says: “All educators must receive CPE training regarding educating students with disabilities.” Our 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.

   Lifetime certificates (provisional and professional certificates issued before September 1, 1999) have rules of their own. Renewing online, an inactive (expired) certificate and those rules are explained in our Texas teaching certificate guide.

3. Social Security, if you’re under full retirement age. If you get Social Security and are under full retirement age for all of 2026, SSA’s earnings limit is $24,480, and wages from every job, plus any net earnings from self-employment, count. SSA withholds part of your benefits when your earnings go over it. If 2026 is the year you reach full retirement age, a higher limit applies. 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. What $24,480 means in tutoring hours is below. 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 published those data in 2019. Whether you paid in, and how a TRS pension and Social Security fit together, are in our Social Security guide. Sources: SSA’s notice of the 2026 amounts (90 FR 49047, November 3, 2025), its operating manual on the earnings test and on which earnings count, and the federal regulation that defines earnings (20 CFR 404.429).

What does the 2026 earnings limit mean in tutoring hours?

If you get Social Security and are under full retirement age for all of 2026, the limit is $24,480. At $23 an hour, that is about 1,064 hours of tutoring in the year. At $25.30, the rate in a pay period that earns 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.

This is arithmetic, not a schedule or a promise. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit, and wages from any other job, plus any net earnings from self-employment, count toward the same limit. 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 a year when SSA gives a cost-of-living increase, federal law tells it to publish the new amounts on or before November 1 (the 2026 notice came out on November 3, 2025); next year’s were not out when we checked on October 20, 2026. In your first year of benefits, a monthly limit may apply instead (SSA decides). Our Social Security guide covers both points.

Questions about tutoring after retirement

Can a retired teacher work in Texas? When can I start?

It depends on who you work for, and on how you retired. TRS’s one-month break after your retirement date, its sentence about employers it does not cover, with its conditions, and the different rules for TRS disability retirees are in the first row of the table above, in TRS’s words. Substitute work and one-half time or less work for a Texas school district, charter school or another TRS-covered employer are in the second row, and full-time work for a TRS-covered employer is in the third. Ask TRS how its rules apply to tutoring with SpecialEdResource. Each rule, in TRS’s own words, is in our TRS employment after retirement guide.

My Texas teaching certificate has expired. Can I still apply?

Yes. If your license has expired or is inactive, you can still apply, as long as you’ll renew it before you start. TEA says: “If a standard certificate is not renewed by its expiration date, it will become inactive.” and “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.” To renew, you complete the CPE hours, apply online and pay the renewal fee, plus a late renewal fee. SBEC’s rule reactivates a certificate only “subject to verification that the educator is in compliance with §232.7 of this title” (§232.7 lists the checks for every renewal, such as fingerprints on file). TEA adds: “Educators are not required to retake certification examinations solely because a certificate has expired.” The steps are in our Texas teaching certificate guide.

Is this a W-2 job?

Yes. You’d be a part-time W-2 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. If you get Social Security and are under full retirement age, these wages count toward the earnings test.