Texas Education Code 21.006: Reporting Educator Misconduct Duties

Texas Education Code 21.006 requires school superintendents, directors, and principals to report specific educator misconduct to the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC), with deadlines as short as 48 hours and criminal exposure for intentional concealment. As of June 20, 2025, Senate Bill 571 moved the core reporting rules into new Chapter 22A, principally Section 22A.051, but the substantive duties carry over.¹² If you are an administrator, treat older references to 21.006 as pointing to the same obligations, now housed in Chapter 22A.

Who Has the Duty to Report

The duty falls on superintendents and directors of school districts, districts of innovation, open-enrollment charter schools, other charter entities, regional education service centers, and shared services arrangements.² Any Texas entity that employs certified educators sits inside the framework, not only traditional districts and charters.

Principals carry a separate, independent duty. When a principal learns of misconduct involving a student or minor, the principal must notify the superintendent or director. From there, the superintendent files with TEA and SBEC. Failing to pass the information up the chain exposes the principal to the same sanctions the superintendent faces.

Reporting Deadlines

Two timelines matter. The statute sets a seven-business-day deadline running from the day the superintendent or director receives a principal’s report, or otherwise learns of an educator’s termination, resignation, or criminal record.³ TEA’s operational guidance narrows the window to 48 hours for misconduct involving students or minors, including physical abuse, threats of violence, romantic or sexual conduct, and inappropriate communications or boundary violations. The principal has 48 hours to notify the superintendent, and the superintendent has 48 hours from there to report to the state.⁴

Neither deadline pauses because a local investigation is still open. If the clock has started, the report is due whether or not the district has reached its own conclusion.

What Must Be Reported

The statute does not use the older “felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude” phrasing that circulates in some summaries. It focuses on evidence of specific conduct connected to a termination or resignation, criminal records discovered outside the state’s criminal history clearinghouse, and testing violations.²

Reportable categories, when an educator is terminated or resigns and there is evidence of the conduct, include:

Abuse or unlawful acts involving a student or minor, including physical mistreatment and threats of violence, whether or not bodily injury resulted.²
Romantic relationships, solicitation of sexual contact, or sexual contact with a student or minor.
Inappropriate communications with students or failure to maintain professional boundaries. These categories were added by SB 571 and are defined by SBEC rule.
Possessing, selling, or distributing controlled substances under state or federal law.³
Illegally transferring, spending, or taking school funds or property.
Attempting to obtain or alter a professional certificate through fraud, for promotion or additional pay.
Any criminal offense committed on school property or at a school-sponsored event.
Tampering with or violating security procedures for state assessment instruments.³

Two points get administrators in trouble. First, a resignation triggers the same reporting duty as a termination if evidence of qualifying conduct exists. Accepting a quiet resignation and skipping the report violates the statute. Second, for the first four categories above — those involving students or minors — the report is required even when the educator remains employed. Termination or resignation is not a prerequisite for that group.²

Separately, a superintendent must report whenever the entity discovers an educator’s criminal record through a source other than the state criminal history clearinghouse.

The Narrow Exception

Only one exception excuses a report. If the district completes a full investigation before the educator resigns or is terminated, and that investigation concludes the educator did not engage in the alleged conduct, no report is required.³ Both conditions must be met. A finding that the allegation was “unsubstantiated” or that evidence was “inconclusive” is not a finding that the conduct did not occur. If the educator resigns mid-investigation, the exception does not apply.

How to File

Reports go through TEA’s online Misconduct Reporting Portal. Paper submissions are no longer accepted for this purpose.⁵⁴

Before submitting, gather the educator’s name and certificate number, a written description of the facts with key dates, and any supporting documentation: investigation reports, witness statements, police reports, board actions, and resignation letters. Complete submissions move through faster. Incomplete ones generate follow-up requests that stretch the process out. After filing, TEA conducts a preliminary review and opens a formal investigation if the allegations meet the threshold. The reporting administrator typically remains a point of contact for investigator questions.

Immunity for Good-Faith Reporters

Administrators who file in good faith while acting in an official capacity have both civil and criminal immunity for the report.³ The same protection covers communications between administrators about an educator’s criminal record or alleged misconduct. That reaches beyond the SBEC filing itself. If a principal at another district calls to ask about a former employee, an honest, official-capacity answer is protected. Withholding information to avoid a lawsuit is the more dangerous choice given what the statute does to non-reporters.

Penalties for Failing to Report

Administrative Sanctions

SBEC can reprimand an administrator, suspend the administrator’s certificate, or revoke it permanently. It can also impose an administrative fine of $500 to $10,000 per failure to report.⁶ Principals who fail to notify their superintendent face the same range of sanctions.

Criminal Liability

A superintendent or director who fails to file a required report with intent to conceal an educator’s criminal record or misconduct commits a state jail felony. A principal who intentionally conceals information from a superintendent faces the same charge.³ A state jail felony in Texas carries 180 days to two years of confinement. Intent is the dividing line. An honest oversight is handled administratively; a deliberate cover-up is prosecuted.

What Happens After the Report

Filing is the start of a process, not a verdict. The educator has constitutional due process rights before any professional license can be suspended or revoked. A property interest in the certificate attaches once the license is conditioned on specific grounds for revocation, and that interest triggers the right to fair procedures.⁷

In practice, the educator receives notice of the allegations and an opportunity to respond. If TEA proposes a sanction and the educator contests it, the case proceeds to a contested hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings in Austin. An administrative law judge presides, both sides present evidence, and SBEC issues a final decision based on the record.⁸ Many investigations end without action against the certificate. A local termination or suspicion does not bind SBEC.

When SBEC does take final public action — reprimand, suspension, revocation, or voluntary surrender — the outcome is reported to the NASDTEC Educator Identification Clearinghouse, a national database used by licensing agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories.⁹ Another state receiving a certification application checks that database. A Texas record does not automatically bar licensure elsewhere, but it flags the applicant for further review, and for serious misconduct most states will decline to license.

Reports the Statute Does Not Replace

An SBEC filing under 21.006 (now 22A.051) does not satisfy every reporting duty triggered by the same underlying incident. The statute itself opens by noting it applies in addition to the child abuse reporting requirement in Section 261.101 of the Family Code.² School employees are mandatory child abuse reporters, and suspected abuse of a child must also go to the Department of Family and Protective Services. Sexual harassment allegations against an employee separately trigger the school’s Title IX response obligations, which require prompt action and forbid informal resolution when the accused is an employee.¹⁰ These are separate reports to separate agencies, each on its own timeline.

1
Texas Legislature. SB 571, 89th Legislature – Bill Text
2
State of Texas. Texas Education Code 22A.051 – Requirement to Report Educator Misconduct to Board
3
Texas Education Agency. Texas Education Code 21.006 – Requirement to Report Misconduct
4
Texas Education Agency. Educator Misconduct and Investigations
5
Texas Education Agency. Required Misconduct Reporting and Notices (SB 571) and Liability of Public Schools and Professional School Employees (HB 4623)
6
Legal Information Institute. 19 Texas Admin Code 249.15 – Disciplinary Action by State Board for Educator Certification
7
Constitution Annotated (Congress.gov). Property Deprivations and Due Process
8
Texas Education Agency. 19 TAC Chapter 249, Subchapter D – Hearing Procedures
9
NASDTEC. NASDTEC Clearinghouse FAQ
10
U.S. Department of Education. Summary of Major Provisions of the Department of Education’s Title IX Final Rule