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The Attorney General of Texas 

March 21, 1979 

MARK WHITE 

Attorney General 

Honorable Oscar H. Mauzy 

Senate Education Committee 

Senate Chamber 

Austin, Texas 787ll 

Opinion No. NW-6 

Re: Whether the Texas Education 

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 11.17 of 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 paraprofessional 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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