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KEY FINDINGS
Texas is at a turning point.
New certification requirements are ensuring the highest-quality teachers are entering Texas classrooms.1 The time is now to build a strong, qualified educator workforce to support your students.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Certification is the middle of the sequence, not the end of
it. The workforce Texas will have in 2029 is being built by
the teachers already in its classrooms today.
THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE
One state. Very different workforce realities.
Statewide averages hide the decision a district actually faces. Candidate availability, certification exposure, and competition for talent vary sharply by region, in recent analysis of first-time Texas teachers, uncertified hires ranged from roughly a quarter of new teachers in some regions to about seven in ten in others.7 The path that fits one district fits almost no one else.
PIPELINE PROBLEM
Certified candidates don't arrive.
Certified candidates simply aren't available locally in sufficient numbers. Rural districts hire uncertified teachers at roughly four times the rate of non-rural ones.7 When the outside pipeline doesn't reach you, the only durable answer is building one from inside the community.
CERTIFICATION PROBLEM
Certify the teachers you already have.
Systems that relied on certification flexibility now have teachers of record who must earn the credential while doing the job, on HB 2's timeline. The task isn't replacing them. It's getting them certified and keeping them once they are.
RETENTION PROBLEM
Certified is not the same as staying.
Strong competition for high-quality talent leaves systems of all sizes with gaps to fill. Teachers who enter with little preparation leave at two to three times the rate of those who enter well prepared.5
WHERE TO START
The first step isn't selecting a program. It's identifying
which workforce problem you're actually trying to solve.
THE HB 2 TIMELINE
The first deadline is not coming. It is here.
HB 2 phases out the exemptions districts have used to staff classrooms with uncertified teachers, and through the PREP allotment it funds the path to certification.12 Read the dates together rather than one at a time and the shape changes: this isn't three deadlines. It's one requirement that keeps widening.
2026–27
First deadline
Districts can no longer exempt K–5 reading and mathematics teachers from certification through a District of Innovation plan.
2027–28
Expanded requirement
The same applies to all foundation curriculum teachers, reading/ELA, mathematics, science, and social studies, at every grade level.
2029–30
Full implementation
Districts with an approved extension have until 2029–30. That application window closed in March 2026. The requirement is the same; only the clock is longer.
WHAT THE TIMELINE DOESN'T SAY.
The deadline tells you when teachers need to be certified. It doesn't tell you whether they'll still be teaching in your district in 2029. Certification can also be about development and retention; strengthening the educators you already have so you're not solving the same workforce challenge again next year.
THE PREP LANDSCAPE
HB 2 establishes the destination. PREP partnerships support the path.
PREP is a state-supported partnership program spanning the points where districts recruit, prepare, certify, support, and retain educators. It isn't one program. It's five, and they solve different problems.2 The first decision isn't whether to participate; it's which path matches the workforce challenge you actually have.
MENTORSHIP
Keep the teachers you have.
Supports structured mentoring for beginning teachers, with stipends, training, and release time. Best fit where early-career teachers are leaving faster than a district can replace them.
PRESERVICE RESIDENCY
Build certified candidates before the vacancy opens.
Paid, year-long clinical residencies tied to district need. Best fit for the pipeline challenge, on a two-to-three-year horizon.
GROW YOUR OWN
Build the pipeline from within.
Develops current employees without a teaching certificate, and high school students in CTE pathways, toward the classroom. Best fit for districts where certified candidates don't arrive from outside. Note: recent LASO cycles tied GYO participation to residency approval.2
PRESERVICE TRADITIONAL
Strengthen the pathways you already use.
Connects university-based preparation more intentionally to district hiring. Best fit for districts with reliable local candidates who want that pathway better aligned. Opens in LASO Cycle 5, fall 2026.
PRESERVICE ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION
The certification path.
Supports districts in moving current educators toward certification through an alternative route to the credential. Best fit for districts looking to address certification needs while building a stronger path for educator development and retention. Opens in LASO Cycle 5, fall 2026.2
KEY INSIGHT
Four of five PREP paths build future candidates or support
new hires. One is built around certification itself. For
districts facing the 2026–27 deadline, that's where the
clock is running.
FROM COMPLIANCE TO WORKFORCE STRATEGY
Meeting the deadline and building a workforce are not the same project.
A certification strategy is also a workforce investment. When districts connect certification with preparation, experience, and ongoing support, they are not only addressing an immediate requirement; they are developing the educators already serving their students. Texas Tech found that students with new uncertified teachers lost roughly four months of learning in reading and three in math, while uncertified teachers with prior classroom experience performed on par with newly certified teachers.7 The finding points to the value of experience, preparation, and practice alongside the path to certification.
For districts, that investment can support both workforce growth and retention. Certification can help bring new educators into the profession while also creating a pathway for uncertified teachers already in classrooms to grow, stay, and build a longer-term future in the district. The question is not simply whether teachers are certified by the deadline, but how preparation, certification, and ongoing support work together to strengthen the workforce over time.
That broader workforce investment also shows up in who stays. Teachers who enter with little preparation leave at two to three times the rate of those who enter well prepared, 5 and uncertified teachers in Texas are both less likely to remain and less effective early on. 4 Meeting the certification deadline is important, but it is only one part of the workforce outcome. Without continued development and support, districts can still find themselves facing the same vacancy pressures they were trying to solve.
That’s why the five workforce functions are better understood as a connected system, not a sequence worked from left to right. Districts may enter at different points depending on the challenge they are solving: preparation strengthens practice, certification can create pathways for both entry and growth, support helps educators succeed, and retention protects the district’s investment over time. Texas has hired more than twice as many uncertified new teachers as standard-certified ones every year since 2022–23.4 The opportunity is to use the certification deadline as a moment to strengthen the broader workforce system around the educators districts are recruiting, developing, and working to keep.
MOST DISTRICTS STOP AT 03.
01
Recruit
→
02
Prepare
→
03
Certify
→
04
Support
→
05
Retain
COMPLIANCE MODE ASKS:
“Are our teachers certified by the deadline?”
STRATEGY MODE ASKS:
“Will we be back in this position three years from now?”
THE IMPLICATION
The deadline is a compliance event. The workforce is a three-year strategy. Districts that plan for the second will meet the first along the way.
THE EFFECTIVE DISTRICT FRAMEWORK
Certification supports recruitment and drives growth and retention.
TEA’s Effective District Framework separates Recruitment and Selection (2.2) from Growth and Retention (2.3). Certification appears within 2.2, where districts track candidates toward standard certification and partner with preparation programs to support that pathway.3 But for uncertified educators who are already teachers of record, those two functions can be happening at the same time.
An educator working toward certification may also need the supports associated with growth and retention—mentoring, feedback, professional learning, and opportunities to advance. The opportunity for districts is to connect those efforts rather than treat certification and development as separate stages. A strong certification plan can link preparation and progress toward the credential with the ongoing support educators need to grow and remain in the classroom.
LEVER 2: TALENT
2.1
Intentional Roles
& Staffing
→
& Staffing
2.2
Recruitment
& Selection Preparation + Certification
(the bridge)
→
& Selection Preparation + Certification
(the bridge)
2.3
Growth &
Retention
Retention
THE IMPLICATION
Recruitment alone is not enough. Preparation, certification, support, and retention are one continuous process, not a handoff between two essential actions. Districts that close that gap don't just clear the deadline; they get the workforce stability the rest of the framework depends on.
Lever 2 is the unlock for the other five.
Planning and Performance Management
A stable talent base is what lets a district execute its strategic roadmap instead of losing momentum to constant restaffing and re-planning.
Integrated Student Supports
Retained counselors, interventionists, and support staff mean students experience consistent relationships and follow-through instead of gaps left by vacancies.
Academic Experience
High-quality instructional materials are only as good as their implementation. Teachers who stay implement them with fidelity; a revolving door re-teaches them every year.
Instructional Leadership and Capacity Building
Coaching relationships and internalization cycles depend on people staying long enough to grow. Turnover resets the clock on capacity.
Finance and Operations
Every teacher retained is a rehiring and onboarding cost avoided, and money that goes to students instead of churn.
A stronger teacher workforce starts by understanding the
workforce you actually have.
FROM INSIGHT TO ACTION
Start with the problem, not the program.
Every Texas district has a different starting point, and the right move depends on which workforce problem is actually yours. These five questions will tell you which one.
-
Which workforce challenge needs our attention most?
Pipeline, certification, retention or a combination? Naming the problem gives the district a clearer place to start.
-
Who needs certification support and by when?
Know which educators are working toward certification, where the pressure points are, and what support they need to stay on track.
-
What happens after an educator earns the credential?
Certification should lead somewhere. What development, support, and opportunities will help educators grow and remain in the district?
-
How does certification connect to our broader workforce strategy?
Are recruitment, preparation, certification, development, and retention reinforcing one another—or operating as separate efforts?
-
Which partnership approach best matches the problem we need to solve?
Start with the workforce need, then identify the PREP partnership and supports that best address it.
SOURCES AND NOTES
- Texas Education Agency, HB 2 Implementation: New Certification Requirements and Incentives for Uncertified Teachers, August 2025.
- Texas Education Agency, Preparing and Retaining Educators through Partnerships (PREP) Program Allotment.
- Texas Education Agency, Effective District Framework, Lever 2: Talent.
- Learning Policy Institute, Teacher Certification in Texas: District Strategies to Recruit and Retain a Credentialed Workforce.
- Learning Policy Institute, Teacher Turnover: Why It Matters and What We Can Do About It. National data.
- University of Houston College of Education, Texas Teacher Workforce Report, 2026.
- Jacob Kirksey, Texas Tech University, research on outcomes from the influx of uncertified Texas teachers, 2024.
A STRONGER TEXAS STARTS WITH TEACHERS.