This is a courtesy announcement from the OSPI Professional Certification Department to inform educators that a change has been adopted by the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) that affects how educators need to apply to renew their certificates.
Note: This change only affects educators who hold full certificates that need to be renewed. This change does not apply to educators who hold limited certificates or non-renewing full certificates. If you have questions, please contact
the Professional Certification Department before applying.
What Changed in the Renewal Process?
Due to a change in renewal processes adopted by PESB, educators now need to apply to renew their certificate six months prior to the expiration date listed on their certificate.
Note: No change was made to any educator's actual expiration date of their certificate. An educator's certificate will remain valid through its expiration date. This is only a process change in how educators will need to apply for their certificate going forward.
Any application to renew a certificate submitted on January 2 or after, in the year the educator's certificate expires, will be considered late. Due to the significance of this process change, OSPI’s Certification Department has
decided to not begin charging late fees for applications until January 2, 2030, so that all educators who hold a current certificate will not be charged a late fee for this first renewal cycle, even if they apply late.
Applying late will still have an impact however, as educators will not be able to start counting clock hours for their subsequent renewal until after their next certificate is issued. With this being the case, the Certification Department strongly advises
all educators to apply for their next renewal on time.
What Do Educators Need to Do?
- Login to your E-Certification profile to review your certificate status.
- Check your certificates to determine if an application is needed. Disregard this notice if you have already applied to renew or have no certificates that will expire on 6/30/2025.
- If you have a full, renewable certificate that is expiring in June 2025, check the Professional Development section of your E-Certification profile to review your professional development entries.
- Please ensure you have completed all renewal requirements and then submit an application to renew your certificate.
If you have not been able to submit your application yet, that is okay. All educators with expiring certificates who have not yet renewed will start to receive late application notifications soon, but there will be no fee associated with the notice this
year.
Late applications WILL NOT be charged a late fee until January 2, 2030.
Why did the Renewal Process Change?
- This process change will allow educators and districts significantly greater time to plan for staffing needs, as well as allowing OSPI’s Certification Department more time to work with educators and districts to resolve challenges that occur
during an educator’s renewal process.
- The goal of this process change is to eliminate the chance that an educator will have a gap in their certificate’s validity or that an educator might be in danger of starting the school year without their certificate being renewed.
- Educators are responsible for the maintenance of their certificate. Additionally, Washington state school districts must still verify that educators hold a valid and current Washington state certificate issued by the Office of Superintendent of Public
Instruction for positions in which a certificate is needed ().
- Certificates will not be issued to any educator who has not applied for a certificate or certificate renewal.
- Refunds will not be granted or issued to individuals who submit incorrect applications or who apply when it is not necessary ().
Questions?
As with any major change, the OSPI Professional Certification Department knows that questions and concerns will occur, and the certification team is here to support you. Please contact us with any questions you may have at cert@k12.wa.us or 360-725-6400.