Teacher Cert Pathfinder

The Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact: enacted in 15 states, and working in some of them

Whether the compact does anything for you depends entirely on which state you are moving to. Pennsylvania runs it. Colorado publishes no guidance on it at all. Florida does not mention it in its certification statute. Below are the 5 primary sources, quoted, with the date each was read.

Checked 9 September 2026 5 primary sources quoted Re-checked quarterly

The short version

The compact cannot move a licence until two things exist: rules adopted by the compact commission, and each member state's list of the licences it will accept. Article III(2) chains them in that order.

Pennsylvania has produced its list, names the thirteen states it accepts, and says it reviews applications under Compact rules without the applicant asking. Colorado has not — its 2026 legislature instead created a temporary substitute that repeals itself “when CDE begins issuing licenses pursuant to the Compact”.

So the membership list tells you almost nothing. The question is not whether your destination state has joined; it is whether that state has actually opened the route, and whether your own state is on its accepted list. Everywhere the answer is no, your move runs on the destination state's ordinary rules — which is what our corridor pages decode.

A correction, on the record

This page originally said the compact was “not yet a licensure route in any of them”. That was wrong. We found it wrong ourselves on 9 September 2026 by checking Pennsylvania's own certification guidance after a news report, and corrected it the same day. The original claim over-generalised from three states to fifteen. We are recording the correction rather than quietly editing it, because a site whose whole proposition is currency should show its own corrections — see what changed, and when.

The evidence

Pennsylvania IS operating the compact as a licensure route
PDE names the thirteen member states whose certificate holders may use the route and states that it has developed a list of reciprocal certifications accepted from each — the eligible-licence list compact Article III(2) requires. This is the step that gates the whole compact, and Pennsylvania has taken it.
You don't need to do anything extra when applying. We will automatically review the application under the Compact rules. Follow the steps below under Pathway 3 to apply for certification.
Pennsylvania Department of Education, Out-of-State Educators — read 9 September 2026
The compact's own website still says it is awaiting enactment
Verbatim, under the heading CURRENT STATUS. No member list, no operational status, no licensure instructions — three years after the first states enacted it, and while at least one member state is already running it. The compact has no authoritative public status page.
The Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (ITMC) has been finalized and is available for state enactment. A copy of the model legislation is available below:
The Council of State Governments / NASDTEC, Teacher Compact — official Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact site — read 9 September 2026
NASDTEC, the compact's designated home, still describes the commission as unformed
The newest blog entries listed on that page are dated 2022. NASDTEC is the compact's designated home, and its page does not record that any state is operating it.
NASDTEC was named as the home for the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact in the summer of 2021. In this role, NASDTEC assists in developing the Compact Commission and provides support to the Commission once it is established.
NASDTEC, Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (NASDTEC) — read 9 September 2026
The compact text chains two prerequisites that do not publicly exist
Article III(2). Commission rules first, then each state's eligible-licence list. Pennsylvania has published its list; Colorado has not, and legislated a temporary substitute instead. This is why the compact works in one state and not another.
Each member state shall, in accordance with rules of the commission, define, compile, and update, as necessary, a list of eligible licenses and career and technical education licenses that the member state is willing to consider for equivalency under this compact and provide the list to the commission.
The Florida Senate, s. 1012.993, F.S. — Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (2026 edition) — read 9 September 2026
Colorado legislated a bridge in 2026 and wrote the repeal trigger into the act
A state does not legislate a bridge across a river that already has one. The same act requires CDE to publish an annual table mapping out-of-state licences to Colorado endorsement areas — a state-level substitute for exactly the eligible-licence list Pennsylvania has already produced.
The act repeals the temporary licensing process when CDE begins issuing licenses pursuant to the Compact.
Colorado General Assembly, SB26-126 — Licensure for Experienced Out-of-State Teachers — read 9 September 2026

What the compact would do, if it were operating

Worth reading, because it is close to the opposite of what the phrase “reciprocity compact” suggests. All quotations are from the compact's own text as codified by a member state.

Article III(1) — It covers only the first licence
Licensure under this compact pertains only to the initial grant of a license by the receiving state.
The Florida Senate, s. 1012.993, F.S. — Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (2026 edition) — read 9 September 2026
Article III(3) — The outcome is discretionary, and may be no licence at all
Such a determination shall be made in the sole discretion of the receiving state's licensing authority and may include a determination that the applicant is not eligible for any of the receiving state's licenses.
The Florida Senate, s. 1012.993, F.S. — Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (2026 edition) — read 9 September 2026
Article IV(2) — Renewal still runs on the destination state's own requirements
the state granting such a license may require the teacher to complete state-specific requirements as a condition of licensure renewal or advancement in that state.
The Florida Senate, s. 1012.993, F.S. — Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (2026 edition) — read 9 September 2026
Article V(1) — You need an unencumbered licence in a member state
a teacher may only be eligible to receive a license under this compact where that teacher holds an unencumbered license in a member state.
The Florida Senate, s. 1012.993, F.S. — Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (2026 edition) — read 9 September 2026
Article III(4) — The genuine exception: military spouses on an encumbered licence
For active duty military members and eligible military spouses who hold a license that is not unencumbered, the receiving state shall grant an equivalent license or licenses that, in the receiving state's sole discretion, is equivalent to the license or licenses held by the teacher in any other member state, except where the receiving state does not have an equivalent license.
The Florida Senate, s. 1012.993, F.S. — Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (2026 edition) — read 9 September 2026

The one provision that is unambiguously generous

Article III(4) grants active-duty service members and eligible military spouses an equivalent licence even where the licence they hold is not unencumbered — the only place in the compact where the receiving state's discretion is narrowed rather than preserved. It is also the provision most likely to matter first when the compact does begin operating.

Which states have enacted it

StateEnacted
Alabama2023
Colorado2023
Delaware2024
Florida2023
Kansas2023
Kentucky2023
Mississippi2024
Nebraska2023
Nevada2023
Oklahoma2023
Oregon2023
Pennsylvania2023
Utah2023
Virginia2026
Washington2024

Source: Council of State Governments, National Center for Interstate Compacts, Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact — member states — read 9 September 2026.

What we could not establish

Stated rather than smoothed over. An unknown we name is worth more to you than a number we guessed.

Why is Mississippi missing from Pennsylvania's list of accepted compact states? Unresolved
Pennsylvania names 13 states it will accept compact applications from. The Council of State Governments lists 15 members. Pennsylvania would not list itself, which leaves Mississippi — a CSG-listed member since 2024 — unaccounted for. PDE does not explain the omission, and we do not know whether it reflects Mississippi's status, a Pennsylvania determination, or an out-of-date page. If you hold a Mississippi certificate, ask PDE rather than assuming.
Checked 9 September 2026

Claims we checked

Each appears on guides that currently rank for interstate teacher licence queries.

Eight states offer full teacher licence reciprocity.
This claim appears on multiple independent guides with no source and an inconsistent list — one version names eight states and then lists seven. It is also contradicted by the destination states' own law: Florida's s. 1012.56(2), F.S. requires an applicant to satisfy general-knowledge, subject-area and professional-preparation mastery, and FLDOE's Route 1 additionally requires a comparability determination. That is not "without satisfying additional requirements".
The Florida Senate, s. 1012.56, F.S. — Educator certification requirements (2026 edition) — read 9 September 2026
A valid licence in one state means you need not submit proof of it in another.
Colorado requires copies of all educator licences, valid and expired, and states that experience not covered by a licence date range is not counted. Texas requires a copy of the out-of-state standard certificate uploaded to the applicant's ECOS account.
Colorado Department of Education, Teachers from Out-of-State/Out-of-Country — read 9 September 2026
Your three years of Colorado-qualifying experience must fall within the last seven years.
Colorado SB26-126, signed 21 April 2026, eliminates the requirement that the successful teaching experience fall within the previous seven years. Guides written before April 2026 still state the seven-year rule.
Colorado General Assembly, SB26-126 — Licensure for Experienced Out-of-State Teachers — read 9 September 2026
Because the destination state joined the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, your move is covered.
The compact governs movement between member states only, so a destination state's membership is irrelevant if the sending state is not also a member. And membership does not mean the route is open: whether a member state actually operates the compact varies by state. Pennsylvania does, and says so on its own certification pages. Colorado publishes no compact guidance at all, and its 2026 legislation implies CDE was not yet issuing licences under it. Florida does not mention the compact in its certification statute or on its reciprocity page. Check the destination state's own guidance, not the membership list.
Pennsylvania Department of Education, Out-of-State Educators — read 9 September 2026

What this means for your move

Three questions, in this order:

  1. Is your destination a member state? If not, the compact does not exist for you and nothing else here matters.
  2. Is your origin a member state? The compact only governs movement between members. A destination's membership is a distraction if your own state has not joined — which is the case for every corridor we have published, because California, Texas and New York are all non-members.
  3. Has your destination actually opened the route? This is the one nobody checks. Pennsylvania has, and says so on its certification pages. Colorado has not. Membership and availability are different things, and only the destination state's own guidance tells you which you are dealing with.

The fifteen corridors, ranked →

Citing this page

Please cite the underlying sources, which are named on every card above. If you are citing the finding itself — that the compact's availability varies state by state, that Pennsylvania operates it and Colorado does not — the assembly of those 5 sources is ours, and we would ask you to say where you got it. We re-check it every quarter, we will publish the date it changes, and when we get it wrong we say so on the page rather than editing quietly.