This section sets the membership and appointment rules for the State Board for Educator Certification and gives board members immunity from civil suit for good-faith acts done in their duties.
Sec. 21.033. STATE BOARD FOR EDUCATOR CERTIFICATION. (a) The State Board for Educator Certification is composed of 15 members. The commissioner of education shall appoint an employee of the agency to represent the commissioner as a nonvoting member. The commissioner of higher education shall appoint an employee of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to represent the commissioner as a nonvoting member. The governor shall appoint two nonvoting members. The governor shall appoint a dean of a college of education in this state as one of the nonvoting members. The governor shall appoint a person who has experience working for and knowledge of an alternative educator preparation program and who is not affiliated with an institution of higher education as one of the nonvoting members. The remaining 11 members are appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate, as follows: (1) four members must be teachers employed in public schools; (2) two members must be public school administrators; (3) one member must be a public school counselor; and (4) four members must be citizens, three of whom are not and have not, in the five years preceding appointment, been employed by a public school district or by an educator preparation program in an institution of higher education and one of whom is not and has not been employed by a public school district or by an educator preparation program in an institution of higher education. (a-1) At least two of the members appointed under Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3) must be from a school district eligible for an allotment under Section 48.101. (b) Appointments to the board shall be made without regard to the race, color, disability, sex, religion, age, or national origin of the person appointed. (c) A board member is immune from civil suit for any act performed in good faith in the execution of duties as a board member. Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, Sec. 1, eff. May 30, 1995. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1174, Sec. 1, eff. June 20, 1997; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1170, Sec. 12.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2003. Amended by: Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 931 (H.B. 2205), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2015. Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1030 (H.B. 2519), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2021.