Texas Border Business
When a Texas charter school closes, pursuant to Texas Education Code (TEC) §12.1052 and 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §100.1203, student records are transferred to a custodian designated by the commissioner of education.
The Texas Education Agency contracts with Region 13 Education Service Center (ESC 13) to provide services related to such records, including maintaining the student records and making them readily accessible to students, parents, and other persons entitled to access. In the past, charter schools, school districts, students, parents, and guardians requiring a copy of a student’s records had to request a hard copy or electronic copy of the student’s records from ESC 13. While former students, parents, and guardians will still need to contact ESC 13 staff directly, educational entities will now be able to request student records electronically via the Texas Records Exchange (TREx) application. As the custodian of the records, ESC 13 must comply with applicable state and federal laws restricting access to the records.
When a student who attended a Texas charter school that is now closed is enrolled at a new school, the new school must first ensure that it has access to the TREx application via the Texas Education Agency Login (TEAL). Instructions for setting up a TEAL account can be found on TEA’s web site.
The TREx user at the new school can then request student records from ESC 13 by initiating a TREx request. ESC 13, as the custodian of closed charter school student records, will respond to the TREx request. The process of initiating this request is similar to any other TREx request, except instead of sending the request to a specific school or district, the TREx user should send the request to “Closed Charter Districts.” For more information on how to submit these requests, please refer to the attachment.
For further information related to securing student records from a closed Texas charter school through TREx, please submit a TIMS ticket or contact the Charter School Administration Division by email at mailto:CharterSchools@tea.texas.gov or by phone at 512-463-9575.
Attachment: Requesting Records from a Closed Charter School
