The Texas Legislature passes thousands of bills each legislative session. However, policymaking doesn’t only happen during session—it occurs year-round. After bills are signed by the governor, many require “rule-making” by regulatory agencies to fill in gaps necessary for implementation. This process generates rules housed in the Texas Administrative Code that serve to interpret laws passed by the Legislature and in doing so provide additional guidance, timelines, compliance mandates, and other details. 

State boards and agencies undertake regular rule-making year-round, even outside of the express direction of the Legislature. This requires ATPE’s lobbyists to constantly engage with entities such as the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and Commissioner of Education, State Board of Education (SBOE), State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC), and Teacher Retirement System (TRS) Board of Trustees that have rule-making authority.

The rule-making process offers ATPE another opportunity to represent the voices and needs of our members. One of ATPE’s most recent rule-making success stories is our work to resolve an unintended consequence of House Bill (HB) 3, the major school finance and reform bill enacted by the Legislature in 2019.

HB 3 created the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA), a program designed to provide school districts additional funding if they issue performance-based merit designations to some of their teachers. The highest designation under this program was labeled “Master Teacher.” Unfortunately, “Master Teacher” was a name already associated with a type of teaching certificate issued by SBEC.

To avoid confusion, HB 3 repealed the authorizing statutes for all the Master Reading, Science, Math, and Technology Teacher certificates, effective September 1, 2019. The repeal meant SBEC could no longer issue Master Teacher certificates and that existing certificates would now be called “Legacy Master Teacher” certificates not subject to renewal. 

In fall 2019, ATPE began receiving calls from members concerned their hard-earned Master Teacher certificates were now nonrenewable. Master Teachers faced the prospect of losing teaching assignments dependent on that certificate once it expired. We swiftly acted to work with SBEC to solve the problem right away instead of waiting for a legislative fix in 2021. 

This effort involved working extensively with TEA staff behind the scenes, drafting suggested rule language, testifying multiple times before SBEC and SBOE, and providing two rounds of public comments to persuade state officials to take corrective action. Additionally, ATPE requested a letter from HB 3 author Rep. Dan Huberty that was delivered to SBEC members just as I was testifying at the February 2020 SBEC meeting. The letter, echoing our testimony, explained the intent of the Master Teacher certificate repeal in HB 3 was only to avoid confusion between similar names, not meant to harm the employment prospects of current educators. ATPE also wrote to Gov. Greg Abbott about the issue in April 2020.

Through these efforts, ATPE was able to fix this unintended problem for nearly 5,000 Texas educators. In October 2020, SBEC approved a rule to transition all Master Teacher certificate holders into “lifetime” status so they would no longer have to renew their certificates or worry about expiration. After final SBOE approval in November 2020, the rule went into effect at the end of the year, giving educators peace of mind about their teaching assignments and the preservation of their hard-earned certificates.

Even when we aren’t in a legislative session, ATPE members can count on us to represent their voices on any issues impacting the education profession. We are here year-round to solve the everyday problems facing educators!