Reports of educator misconduct submitted to the Texas Education Agency rose from 6,456 in fiscal 2025 to 19,766 in fiscal 2026, while placements on the state’s Do Not Hire Registry reached a record high.
Texas Scorecard reported that the 2026 total represents an average of 1,647 complaints per month. Most reports came from school superintendents, while the Department of Family and Protective Services accounted for 14 percent and general complaints accounted for 10 percent.
The increase does not mean confirmed misconduct tripled. Complaints receive preliminary review, and not every complaint becomes a formal investigation or results in discipline. Reporting requirements also broadened under Senate Bill 571, a bipartisan law enacted in 2025.
SB 571 expanded mandatory reporting to cover all school employees and contractors, including alleged boundary violations and inappropriate communications with students. The law also created temporary certification suspensions or Do Not Hire designations after arrests for specified felonies while criminal proceedings remain unresolved.
TEA data cited by Texas Scorecard show 1,070 Do Not Hire Registry placements during fiscal 2026, including 624 permanent and 455 temporary placements. The registry began in 2020. Fiscal 2025 had 589 permanent placements.
As of August 31, TEA’s Educator Investigations Division had 13,688 open cases, compared with 5,045 a year earlier. More than half involved allegations of in-school violence. The agency was also reviewing 3,040 sexual-misconduct cases, including allegations of improper conduct with students, school-related sexual abuse, and child abuse unrelated to school.
Those figures describe open allegations, not findings of guilt. The dashboard does not identify the districts involved or the specific facts behind individual complaints.
Certification sanctions imposed by the State Board for Educator Certification declined slightly, from 1,173 in fiscal 2025 to 1,114 in fiscal 2026. TEA also received 27,655 fingerprint-based criminal-history alerts, up from 23,369.
The public-integrity significance is twofold. Texas now has broader reporting and greater visibility into alleged misconduct, but the larger caseload also increases pressure on TEA to investigate promptly, distinguish substantiated cases from unproven reports, and publish clear outcomes. Parents and taxpayers will need both complaint totals and final disciplinary results to judge whether the expanded system is improving student protection.