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Tips for new teachers
employee usually performs; (2) the employee offers to perform the services freely and without coercion; and (3) the services support a civic, charitable or humanitarian purpose. The district must compensate the employee if the work does not satisfy all these criteria. A finance clerk cannot “volunteer” to take money and keep the books for a fundraising event, and an administrator cannot imply that “team players” volunteer; i.e., “no volunteer work, no job,” to encourage an “offer” to volunteer.
Compensatory time
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A school district can require an employee to take compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay if the employee agrees to that arrangement in writing before performance of the work. If the employee has not signed an agreement to accept compensatory time, the employee can object to a request to do so and insist on receiving overtime pay. An employer must honor an employee’s request to use compensatory time within a reasonable time after the request unless the use of compensatory time would “unduly disrupt” the employer’s business. The proper calculation of compensatory time is 1.5 times the hours worked in excess of 40.
Upon termination of employment, any unused compensatory time accrued by an employee must be paid to the employee.
Rest and meal breaks
The FLSA does not require an employer to provide rest breaks or meal breaks to employees. If a rest break is 20 minutes or longer and the employee is completely relieved of duties, it is not counted as time worked even if the employee is required to remain on school premises. The employee must then make up the time during that week in order to work a full 40 hours. The only time meal periods do not count as hours worked is if they are at least 30 minutes long, the employee is completely relieved of all duties, and the employee is not required to remain at the duty post.
Nursing mother breaks
The FLSA requires all employers subject to the FLSA to provide reasonable break times to mothers who wish to express breast milk for one year after a child’s birth. Employers must provide a location other than a multiple-user bathroom for the mothers to express milk. This location must be free from intrusion from co-workers and the public. An employee does not have to be paid for this time. This requirement does not apply to an employer with fewer than 50 employees if the employer would experience “undue hardship” as a result of providing such breaks. This provision applies only to employees covered by overtime and minimum wage requirements. It does not apply to exempt employees, including teachers. However, under a state law passed in 2015, all Texas public employees (including teachers) now must be provided reasonable break time and a space other than a multiple-user bathroom to express breast milk.
Reporting FLSA violations
TCTA members with questions about the Fair Labor Standards Act may call TCTA staff attorneys at 888-879-8282. The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division is charged with enforcing the FLSA and may be reached at 866-4USWAGE (487-9243). The department maintains a website at www.dol.gov/whd.
YOUR JOB
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.
Certificate renewal periods/CPE requirements
Teacher certificates issued after Aug. 31, 1999, are subject to a five-year certificate renewal period, with a 150-hour continuing professional education requirement that must be met through an SBEC-approved provider. (TCTA offers more than 45 hours of free CPE videos for members at tcta.org/seminars.) 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 and are not subject to certificate sanctions. Certification by exam
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.
Certification exam retakes
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 $164 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 at https://tea.texas.gov/Texas_ Educators/Certification/Educator_Testing/.
Science of teaching reading certification exam
Candidates issued certification to teach prekindergarten through grade six after Jan. 1, 2021, must demonstrate proficiency on the science of teaching reading certification exam.
Applied STEM teachers
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.
Out-of-field assignments
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 to consent to activation of an emergency permit 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 to consent 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.
Maximum length of service without standard certification
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.
Out-of-state/out-of-country certification
An out-of-state certified educator who has submitted all required documents but has not yet performed satisfactorily on the applicable Texas certification exam(s), or an exam similar to and at least as rigorous as the applicable Texas certification exam administered by his/her home state/country, has at least one full year from final SBEC review of his/her credentials to complete all Texas certification requirements.
TExES ADMINISTRATION
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 at www.tx.nesinc.com, or click on the Texas Educators link on the TEA website at www.tea. texas.gov.
State law allows the commissioner to adopt rules establishing exceptions to these certification exam requirements for out-ofstate/out-of-country certified educators. The commissioner’s rules require that applicants requesting an exemption from Texas educator certification exam requirements meet the following requirements:
A) obtain a bachelor’s degree from an institution of higher education that, at the time it conferred the degree, was accredited or otherwise approved by an accrediting organization recognized by the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board; (B) complete a state-approved educator preparation program, including student teaching or a teaching practicum, in the state where the standard certificate was issued; (C) pass the examinations required by the state department of education or country of licensure for issuance of the standard certificate; (D) hold a standard certificate issued by the state department of education or country of licensure that is equivalent to a
Texas standard classroom or professional class certificate;
PARENT NOTICE OF NON-CERTIFIED/INAPPROPRIATELY CERTIFIED TEACHERS
State law requires that a school district that assigns an inappropriately certified or uncertified teacher to the same classroom for more than 30 consecutive instructional days provide written notice of the assignment to the parent/ guardian of each student in that classroom. The statute defines “inappropriately certified or uncertified teacher” as an individual serving on an emergency permit or one who does not hold any certificate or permit. It does not include someone serving on a school district teaching permit or for whom a waiver of certification has been granted by the commissioner, or to non-certified people hired by DOIs that claim exemption from certification requirements. The statute also exempts certified teachers who are teaching a class/classes outside their area of certification from the parent notice requirement. Additionally, the federal Every Student Succeeds Act requires that school districts provide timely notice to a student’s parents if a student has been assigned, or has been taught for four or more consecutive weeks by, a teacher who does not meet applicable state certification or licensure requirements for the grade level and subject area in which the teacher has been assigned. State law provides that school districts that provide the notice required by ESSA are not required to provide the notice required by state law. ESSA also requires that, upon request, parents of students receive timely information about whether the child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications, and whether their child’s teacher:
• has met state qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction; • is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualification or licensing criteria have been waived; and • is teaching in the field of discipline of the certification of the teacher.
(E) for an applicant certified as a classroom teacher, have at least one academic year of verifiable, full-time experience serving in the role and documented on a service record; and (F) for an applicant certified in a professional class area only, have two academic years of verifiable, full-time experience serving in the role and documented on a service record.
Failure to obtain/maintain certification/permit
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. For more information about contracts, see page 9.
Extension of certification renewal deadlines
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.
Criminal background checks/fingerprinting
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 he/she 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. For more information on fingerprinting and the national criminal history background check, see page 30.
Virtual certificates online
Anyone holding a valid Texas public school educator certificate can view his/her certificate through the secure Certificate Lookup at https://goo.gl/5bnmXQ. 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.
More information
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, www.tea.texas.gov.
