Reminder: Update to Certificate Issuance 
Educator certificates will no longer be issued automatically and will not be issued until the SEMARC check is complete. SEMAC (Statewide Educator Misconduct and Accountability Clearinghouse) will be integrated into the DNHR (Do Not Hire Registry), and LEAs will see corresponding updates in the DNHR upload results file. These updates are intended to provide more comprehensive background check information and help prevent individuals with reportable conduct from moving between agencies.  

EPPs and candidates should expect a delay of several days while the check is completed. Candidates will receive an email confirmation once their certificate is issued, and EPPs can verify certificate validity through their green screen system or through Certificate Lookup. EPPs should review and update their internal procedures to account for this delay when recommending certificates.    If it has been several days and the certificate has not been issued, the candidate may contact Educator Fingerprinting at 512-936-8400 option 3 or through the Fingerprinting Help Desk. 

Only candidates who completed one of the qualifying special education or bilingual education exams listed above for the first time on or after June 4, 2025, are eligible for the HB 2 certification application fee waiver. Exams completed before this date do not qualify, even if they were required for program completion.   A candidate’s certification application fee waiver is fully executed based on receiving the online recommendation from the educator preparation program. 

New: PREP Intent to Apply for 2027-2028
As TEA staff, school systems, and EPPs prepare for the launch of LASO V in the fall of 2026, EPPs should be considering which PREP Allotment preparation routes they will offer for 2027-2028. On Friday, June 26, 2026, EPP Legal Authorities will receive an Intent to Apply form to indicate which PREP Allotment routes (Residency, Traditional, Preservice Alternative) your EPP intends to apply to offer for the 2027-2028 academic year. The legal authority or a designee will need to complete this form for inclusion as potential partners for school systems. Please complete this form as quickly as possible to ensure your EPP is listed on the LASO V application. Please note that EPPs will need to be in compliance with all PREP Allotment requirements, including training faculty and leadership on Texas Reading & Math Academies and the Science of Learning requirements, to ensure eligibility for the PREP Allotment routes.  

New: Entering PREP Candidates into ECOS
As communicated during the PREP ECOS Training held on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, the ECOS portal for entering candidates participating in the PREP Allotment will open very soon. As a reminder, EPPs will need to upload their residency candidates into ECOS so that school systems can identify them to generate PREP Allotment funding for 2026-2027. Candidates must be identified in ECOS by school systems by mid-August to ensure funding. The webinar was recorded and will be posted on the PREP Website soon.  

Reminder: Employment and Retention Treasure Hunt Winner Announced
Recently, the I2I Team hosted a training on how to get the most out of the Employment and Retention Dashboard. To ensure that the lesson stuck, the team created a fun, interactive “treasure hunt” for EPP staff to practice finding actionable insights about their respective programs.  

University of Texas at San Antonio Assistant Director of Assessment and Program Accountability, Dr. Jessica McConnell, is the first treasure hunt winner to repeat. But Region 14 Education Service Center Administrator Certification Coordinator & TIA Consultant Michael Cano is the latest to locate his data treasure! 

Check out this blog to learn what he finds most valuable about the I2I Dashboards. 

Reminder: Secure Your Seat for June’s I2I Sign-up Session 
On Thursday, June 25, 2026, from 2:00 – 3:00 PM CST, the I2I Dashboards Team will host a Dashboards Sign-up Event to help guide the EPP community through the process of requesting access to the I2I dashboards. This event is designed for EPP employees who do not yet have access to the I2I dashboards and would like direct support in the process.  

This webinar will be the latest in a quarterly cadence of sign-up events that will provide the EPP community with the opportunity to learn more about the steps in the process, including dedicated time to request access to the dashboards and roles pertinent to their work and time with our team to troubleshoot issues.  

Use this registration link for the sign-up event, and feel free to share this invitation widely with your EPP community to ensure that all who are eligible and would benefit from using dashboard data to make programmatic decisions have appropriate access. For those who would like to follow along with the video from a previous sign-up event, please feel free to click here for the recording. 

For other events regarding the I2I Dashboards, check out the I2I Communications Calendar on TEA’s continuously updating I2I Academy website. 

Q: When should an EPP designate an educator candidate a “Finisher”? 

A: An EPP may designate a candidate as a program finisher (or completer) only after the candidate has met all requirements outlined in 19 TAC Chapter 228. This includes completing all required coursework and training, as well as successfully finishing the required clinical experience, such as clinical teaching, an internship, practicum, or residency, as applicable. Finisher status must be based solely on the completion of program requirements. Whether a candidate has been recommended for a standard certificate or has passed certification exams cannot be used as criteria for determining finisher status.  

Q: What is the process of transitioning teachers from one route to the residency route if they already have an admission record?  For example, a candidate was originally admitted under CLIN but now wants to pursue residency.   

A: This situation is not considered a correction, and a new admission record should not be created. The candidate was appropriately admitted under the original route, and that admission record must remain unchanged.  

When a candidate transitions to the residency route, the change is reflected through updates to the Finisher Records list rather than through admission records. The EPP must update the candidate’s enrollment records to accurately reflect the new route. The enrollment record associated with the original route must be updated to a status of “Remove,” indicating that the candidate is no longer enrolled in that route. The EPP must then add a new enrollment record under the residency route and assign it a status of “Other Enrolled” to reflect the candidate’s active participation in the residency pathway. After the enrollment records have been updated, all subsequent program activity for the candidate should align with the residency route. For example, any continued clinical experiences or, if applicable, test approvals should correspond to the residency route.  

As an Educator Preparation Program, your main point of contact is your Education Specialist.   

• View a list of EPPs and Education Specialist Assignments. 
• For most efficient assistance, please submit a Help Desk ticket to Preparation Programs.   
• EPPs may contact their assigned Education Specialist directly via phone or email. 
• Candidates may call (512) 936-8400 and select Option #2: Educator Preparation and Certification for assistance.  
• Updated: If EPPs (and candidates) would like to speak to a representative from another area(s), they may call (512) 936-8400 and select one of the options listed below. 
• Option 2: Educator Preparation and Certification  
• Option 3: Fingerprinting  
• Option 6: Investigations 

The Teal Account Access team and Educator Testing team are available through the Help Desk. Links to both teams are below. 

• TEAL Account Access Help Desk  
• Educator Testing Help Desk