(a) Boards and the Agency's designated Texas Rising Star assessment entity shall:
  (1) conduct a background check on each Texas Rising Star staff member prior to hiring and again every five years; and
  (2) ensure that each Texas Rising Star staff completes the Texas Rising Star standards training, as described in the Texas Rising Star guidelines.
(b) Boards shall ensure that Texas Rising Star mentor staff meets the minimum requirements in subsections (c) - (f) of this section.
(c) Texas Rising Star mentor staff shall meet the minimum education requirements as follows:
  (1) Bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year college or university in early childhood education, child development, special education, child psychology, educational psychology, elementary education, or family consumer science;
  (2) Bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year college or university with at least 18 credit hours in early childhood education, child development, special education, child psychology, educational psychology, elementary education, or family consumer science with at least 12 credit hours in child development; or
  (3) Associate's degree in early childhood education, child development, special education, child psychology, educational psychology, elementary education, or family consumer science, and two years of suitable experience in early childhood education as determined by the Board.
(d) The Agency may grant a waiver of no more than two years to obtain the minimum education requirements in subsection (c) of this section if a Board can demonstrate that no applicants in its workforce area meet the minimum education requirements.
(e) Texas Rising Star mentor staff shall meet the minimum work experience requirements of one year of full-time early childhood classroom experience in a child care, EHS, HS, or pre-K through third-grade school program.
(f) All mentors must attain mentor microcredentialing, as described in the Texas Rising Star Guidelines.
(g) The Agency's designated Texas Rising Star assessment entity shall ensure that Texas Rising Star assessor staff shall attain and maintain the Texas Rising Star Assessor Certification, as described in the Texas Rising Star Guidelines.

Source Note: The provisions of this §809.134 adopted to be effective February 16, 2015, 40 TexReg 708; amended to be effective January 8, 2019, 44 TexReg 114; amended to be effective January 25, 2021, 46 TexReg 593; amended to be effective October 3, 2022, 47 TexReg 6437; amended to be effective July 29, 2024, 49 TexReg 5540