Transferring a Florida teaching licence to Texas
Texas states outright that it has no reciprocity with any state, and Texas is not a compact member — so Florida’s membership buys you nothing in this direction. Every applicant pays for a Review of Credentials first, and which Florida certificate you hold decides whether that fee is worth paying.
Which framework applies to you
| Florida | Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact member (enacted 2023) |
| Texas | Not a compact member |
The compact governs movement between member states. Because one end is not a member, the compact route does not exist for you at all — whatever the other state's membership is publicised as doing. Why that matters →
The question that decides this corridor
Will TEA accept a Florida Temporary Certificate for a Review of Credentials, or only a Florida Professional Certificate?
Texas requires a standard certificate and excludes "a certificate for which academic or other program deficiencies are indicated" (19 TAC §230.111(c)). A Florida Professional Certificate is the state’s highest, renewable credential and should clear that comfortably. A Florida Temporary is nonrenewable and exists, in FLDOE’s own words, to give you "time to complete all requirements for a Professional Certificate" — requirements outstanding, on its face. Whether TEA reads that as a deficiency is TEA’s call, and the Review of Credentials fee is $160 and expressly nonrefundable. Ask before you pay.
Who to ask: TEA Educator Certification, 512-936-8400 option 2, Monday–Friday 08:00–12:00 Central
ambiguous_confirm_with_state — this is a real gap in the
published record, not a gap in our reading of it. We checked on
9 September 2026. Anyone who gives you a confident answer to this is guessing;
the agency is the only place it can be settled.
Moving on military orders? Federal law gives a military spouse a separate route: a covered teaching certificate is valid in the new state on three documents. Texas's education agency does not mention that route on the pages we read. What federal law and Texas publish →
What Texas requires
Each card carries the rule or agency page it comes from and the date we read it. Where a source states something verbatim, we quote it rather than paraphrase.
Texas does not have reciprocity with any other state, meaning it does not automatically recognize or accept out-of-state teaching certificates to move into immediate issuance of a standard certificate in Texas.Texas Education Agency, Out-of-State Certified Educators — read 9 September 2026
The certificate or other credential issued by the authorized licensing agency in another state or territory of the United States may not be an expired certificate, a temporary permit, a credential issued by a city or school district, or a certificate for which academic or other program deficiencies are indicated.
19 TAC §230.111(c). A 'standard certificate' is defined at 19 TAC §230.1(22) as one issued to a person who has met all requirements for a class of certification.
State Board for Educator Certification (via Texas Education Agency), 19 TAC ch. 230 subch. H — Texas Educator Certificates Based on Certification and College Credentials from Other States (July 2026 Update) — read 9 September 2026Provides time to complete all requirements for a Professional Certificate while teaching full-time.
What is unresolved: whether a receiving state reads "requirements still outstanding" as "deficiencies indicated". Texas’s exclusion is at 19 TAC §230.111(c) and TEA makes that call, not us. If you hold a Florida Temporary and are leaving the state, ask the receiving agency before paying a nonrefundable review fee. Holders of a Florida Professional Certificate are not affected.
Florida Department of Education, Certificate Types and Requirements — read 9 September 2026House Bill 1178, enacted by the 89th Texas Legislature, requires that any out-of-state certificate submitted for a Review of Credentials must be both valid and active at the time the complete application is received.
19 TAC §§230.111 and 230.113 amended to be effective 2 August 2026, 51 TexReg 4864, under TEC §21.0521 as added by HB 1178, 89th Leg. R.S. 2025.
Texas Education Agency, Out-of-State Certified Educators — read 9 September 202619 TAC §230.101(a)(6)(B). Section last amended effective 19 May 2024, 49 TexReg 3551.
State Board for Educator Certification (via Texas Education Agency), 19 TAC ch. 230 subch. G — Certificate Issuance Procedures (May 2024 Update) — read 9 September 2026Established by HB 3, 86th Texas Legislature, effective 1 January 2021. Classroom teaching experience alone does not exempt; Reading Academies cannot be used to exempt.
Texas Education Agency, Out-of-State Certified Educators — read 9 September 2026An applicant issued a one-year certificate under this section who does not complete the appropriate examination requirements to establish eligibility for a standard certificate during the validity of the one-year certificate, is not eligible for any type of certificate or permit authorizing employment for the same certificate until he or she has satisfied the appropriate examination requirements.
19 TAC §230.113(d).
State Board for Educator Certification (via Texas Education Agency), 19 TAC ch. 230 subch. H — Texas Educator Certificates Based on Certification and College Credentials from Other States (July 2026 Update) — read 9 September 2026we encourage you to allow sufficient time for review, generally 6 to 8 weeks during our busiest months, April-September.Texas Education Agency, Out-of-State Certifications — read 9 September 2026
Documentation of a valid professional standard teaching certificate issued by another state
s. 1012.56(3)(b), (5)(e) and (6)(c), F.S. (2026 edition). The same phrase appears in all three subsections.
The Florida Senate, s. 1012.56, F.S. — Educator certification requirements (2026 edition) — read 9 September 2026s. 1012.56(2)(c), F.S.
The Florida Senate, s. 1012.56, F.S. — Educator certification requirements (2026 edition) — read 9 September 2026The endorsement, side by side
| Florida | Texas | |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate or endorsement | Mathematics (6-12) | Mathematics: Grades 7–12 |
| Grade band | 6–12 | 7–12 |
| Named examination | Florida subject area test: Mathematics (6-12) | TExES Mathematics 7–12 (235) |
Note the grade-band mismatch. Florida issues 6–12; Texas issues 7–12. Whether that matters depends on whether the destination applies an identity test or a comparability test — and those are different tests with different outcomes.
What works in your favour
Florida requires a subject area examination for its Professional Certificate, so most Florida teachers arrive with exam evidence — which is exactly what Texas’s Option 1 test exemption asks for, alongside one year of classroom experience.
Texas Education Agency, Out-of-State Educator Test Exemption Review — read 9 September 2026The Science of Teaching Reading examination does not apply to secondary mathematics. If a guide tells you to sit it, it is describing a different certificate.
Texas Education Agency, Out-of-State Certified Educators — read 9 September 2026Three or more years of verifiable experience in the certificate area qualifies for Texas’s Option 2 exemption on experience alone, with no examination evidence needed.
Texas Education Agency, Out-of-State Educator Test Exemption Review — read 9 September 2026What it costs to get this corridor wrong
Every figure below is set by a rule or published by the agency, and cited on its row. These are not our estimates, and the largest single nonrefundable amount is $160.
Nothing here is a prediction about your file. It is what the published rules say happens, and what the agency charges, if a step is taken in the wrong order or on the wrong document.
Licence classes on this corridor
The requirements above are the ones that apply whatever you teach. These are the classes whose subject-specific requirements we have researched for Texas.
| Licence class | Corridor | Pack |
|---|---|---|
| Secondary mathematics | Florida → Texas | Pack written · not yet on sale |
| Elementary | Florida → Texas | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Middle grades | Florida → Texas | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Secondary science | Florida → Texas | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Secondary English language arts | Florida → Texas | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Special education | Florida → Texas | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Career and technical education | Florida → Texas | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
A class listed without a pack is not a gap in the research — its facts are on this page and on the state pages. It means we have not yet written the step-by-step pack for it.
Pathway Pack — Florida → Texas · Secondary Mathematics
$59
Every requirement with its citation and as-of date · the application sequence in the order that matters · fees · the timelines the agency itself publishes · the provisional options and their limits · and the questions the published record does not answer, stated plainly with the number to call.
Built 10 September 2026 · 12 months of updates included, through 10 September 2027 · 14-day refund, no questions.
Not available
Not yet on sale. Held from sale until the agency answers the question this corridor turns on. We will not sell a researched question as if it were an answer. The corridor page above is complete and free; the pack adds the full requirement list, the ordered sequence, the fee table and the provisional options.
Where these facts come from
This page cites 9 sources. Every one is named on the card that uses it, with the date we read it. The full register, including what we archived and what we could not retrieve, is at every source we cite.