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The Attorney General of Texas
March 21, 1979
MARK WHITE
Attorney General
Honorable Oscar H. Mauzy Opinion No. NW-6
Senate Education Committee
Senate Chamber Re: Whether the Texas Education
Austin, Texas 787ll Agency has a responsibility to issue
preliminary teaching certificates
or paraprofessional teaching
certificates under section 11.17 of
the Education Code.
Dear Senator Mauzy:
You have requested our opinion regarding the issuance of preliminary
teaching certificates and paraprofessional teaching certificates by the Texas
Education Agency [hereafter TEA].
Section 11.17of the Texas Education Code, enacted in 1973, created an
Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education, whose stated purpose was to
assist the State Board of Education in formulating
minimum standards for quality educational
experiences in all public programs at the kindergarten
grade level.
Section ll.l7(a). The Texas Education Agency, “with the advice of the
council,” was directed to develop standards
for the certification of professional and para-
professional personnel and for the accreditation of
public kindergartens.
Section 11.17(f). The statute further provided that the “duration of the
Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education shall not exceed four (4)
years in length.” Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., ch. 643, S 2, at 1762. You indicate
that the Advisory Council, prior to the end of its mandate in 1977, developed
and published recommendations to the TEA in compliance with section
11.17(f). You first ask whether the TEA is at present required to develop
standards for certification pursuant to that statute.
P. 16
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Honorable Oscar H. Mauzy - Page Two (NW-61
In our opinion, the directive to TEA operates independently of the existence of the
Advisory Council and survives that body’s dissolution. The four-year limitation affects
only the duration of the Advisory Council. If the council has furnished the requisite
advice to TEA within the four-year period of its existence, we believe that TEA is
required to develop standards for certification pursuant to section 11.17(f). The statute
places no time limit upon TEA’s compliance, but it seems clear that the legislature
intended that TEA should comply within a reasonable time.
In 1977, however, the legislature amended section 16.056(g) of the Texas Education
Code to read as follows:
Each person employed in the public schools of this state who is
assigned to a position classified at pay grade 4 or above for
purposes of the Foundation School Program must be certified
according to the certification requirements and/or standards for
each position as established by the Central Education Agency. The
board of trustees of each school district shall adopt policies
establishing the requirements and specifying the duties of each
person employed in a position classified at pay grade 1, 2, or 3.
Acts 1977, 65th Leg., 1st C.S., ch. 1, S 4, at 16. Thus, since September 1, 1977, TEA has
been required to establish certification standards only for those positions classified at pay
grade 4 or above. To the extent that professional and paraprofessional personnel
employed in a public kindergarten occupy positions classified at pay grades l, 2 or 3, the
board of trustees of the particular district is now responsible for “establishing the
requirements and specifying the duties” of those positions. For any position classified at
pay grade 4 or above, TEA is still required to develop standards for certification under
section 11.17(f). Although section 16.104(e), also enacted in 1977, states that the
“qualifications and minimum salary levels of paraprofessional personnel for salary
allotment purposes of this section shall be established by the commissioner of education,”
that section applies only to personnel employed in the “operation and maintenance of a
program of special education” for ‘handicapped children,” as defined in the statute.
You also ask whether section 11.17 authorizes or requires TEA to issue preliminary
teaching certificates or paraprofessional teaching certificates. Section ll.l7(e) directs
TEA, “with the advice of the council,” to “formulate minimum standards for the
certification of teachers at the kindergarten grade level.” Nothing in section ll.17,
however, requires or even permits TEA to issue teaching certificates. The power to issue
teaching certificates is conferred upon the commissioner of education “in compliance with
the provisions of Chapter 13” of the Education Code. Section lL52fg). Chapter 13
authorizes the creation of a board of examiners for teacher education, section 13.031(a),
whose duty it is to advise the commissioner regarding the issuance of certificates.
Section 13.032(b). Chapter 13 describes the requirements for obtaining various
certificates. In our opinion, TEA is not empowered to issue any teaching certificates
except in compliance with the provisions of Chapter 13. To the extent that section 11.17
p. 17
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Honorable Oscar H. Mauzy - Page Three (m-6)
contemplates the issuance of any other kind of certificate, we do not believe that TEA is
the proper issuing authority. Furthermore, as we have previously noted, since the
enactment of section 16.056(g), the local board of trustees, rather than TEA, is responsible
for establishing the requirements and setting the duties of all employees classified at pay
grades I, 2 or 3.
SUMMARY
The duty of the Texas Education Agency [TEAI with regard to the
development of standards for certification of professional and
paraprofessional personnel employed in public kindergartens is
limited to the development of certification standards~ for those
positions classified at pay grade 4 or above and to the certification
of employees occupying such positions. TEA may issue any
teaching certificate only pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 13
of the Education Code.
MARK WHITE
Attorney General of Texas
JOHN W. FAINTER, JR.
First Assistant Attorney General
TED L. HARTLEY
Executive Assistant Attorney General
Prepared by Rick Gilpin
Assistant Attorney General
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
C. Robert Heath, Chairman
David B. Brooks
Susan Garrison
Rick Gilpin
Nathan Johnson
William G Reid
Bruce Youngblood
P. 18
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