Can you become a teacher with a felony?

The rules

• There's no federal teaching license; states certify teachers and run the background checks, typically fingerprint-based state and FBI checks.^1,2,3,4,5

  Examples: New York requires a fingerprint-based state and FBI criminal history search of every applicant for a teaching certificate (Education Law 3004-b) and of prospective school employees (3035). Pennsylvania requires a Pennsylvania State Police criminal history check, a Department of Human Services child abuse clearance and an FBI check for school employees, renewed every 60 months. Texas requires fingerprints for a national criminal history check when you apply for certification. California requires every credential applicant, including renewals, to submit fingerprint cards (Education Code 44340).

• Many states list offenses that require denial or revocation of a teaching certificate; sex offenses, violent felonies and crimes against children are the most common.^{6,7,8,9,10,11,12}

  California must deny a credential to anyone convicted of a sex offense (Education Code 44010) or a controlled substance offense (44011), anyone required to register as a sex offender (44346), and anyone convicted of a violent or serious felony as listed in Penal Code 667.5(c) and 1192.7(c) (44346.1). Texas must deny or revoke a certificate for a conviction or deferred adjudication for an offense requiring sex-offender registration, improper relationship between educator and student (Penal Code 21.12), sale, distribution or display of harmful material to a minor (43.24), a felony under Penal Code chapter 43 (public indecency) or a felony involving school property, and for a conviction of any felony under Penal Code Title 5, 'Offenses Against the Person' (which includes criminal homicide, sexual offenses and assaultive offenses) (Education Code 22A.201(a), (f)).

• Outside the mandatory lists, a record is usually weighed case by case, and some states require a link between the offense and teaching before denying.^3,13,14

  New York must decide school clearance under Correction Law Article 23-A, which bars denial because of a prior conviction unless the offense is directly related to the job or employment would involve an unreasonable risk, and gives a denied applicant notice and a right to be heard (Education Law 3035(3); Correction Law 752). Texas may deny or sanction for a felony or misdemeanor related to the duties of the profession, including moral turpitude, abuse of a minor or student, felony drug possession, transfer, sale or distribution, misuse of school funds or property, and certificate fraud (Education Code 21.060).

• Some states also bar school employment directly, separate from the license, for set periods.^4,8,15,16

  Pennsylvania's School Code bars school employment for life for a conviction of listed offenses (24 P.S. 1-111(e)): criminal homicide, aggravated assault, stalking, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, luring a child, rape and other listed sexual offenses (including indecent assault and indecent exposure), incest, endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors under 6301(a)(1), sexual abuse or exploitation of children, unlawful contact with a minor, certain felony prostitution and obscenity offenses, any felony under the state's Controlled Substance Act, and similar offenses in other jurisdictions. For other convictions, Section 111(f.1) allows employment only after time has passed since the sentence expired: 10 years for any other first-, second- or third-degree felony, 5 years for any other first-degree misdemeanor, and 3 years after the most recent sentence for more than one DUI graded as a first-degree misdemeanor. Pennsylvania's Department of Education says the Commonwealth Court held in 2012 that the lifetime bans were unconstitutional as applied to the people in those cases, and tells schools to apply all the Section 111 bans case by case, considering the offense, time elapsed, whether it was isolated, later record, the job and rehabilitation; it says offenses that implicate children's safety presumptively still require a ban. In Texas, schools must refuse to hire people with the offenses listed in 22A.201, except that a Title 5 offense more than 30 years old with all court terms satisfied doesn't bar employment (22A.157(b)); that exception doesn't appear in the certification bar.

• The federal role is limited: states that take federal K-12 funds must ban 'passing the trash', and federally funded child care has its own disqualifying-crime list.^17,18

  20 U.S.C. 7926 (Every Student Succeeds Act section 8546) requires states or districts receiving federal education funds to prohibit school staff from helping someone get a new school job when they know or have probable cause to believe the person engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor or student. For child care providers receiving federal Child Care and Development Block Grant funds (including many preschool and child care teachers), 42 U.S.C. 9858f(c) bars staff who are on a sex offender registry or have felony convictions for murder, child abuse or neglect, crimes against children, spousal abuse, rape or sexual assault, kidnapping, arson, or physical assault or battery, a drug-related felony in the past 5 years, or certain violent misdemeanors against children; states may set up a review that allows the drug-felony bar to be lifted (9858f(e)(4)).

What can stand in the way

• In Texas, an arrest for a listed offense now leads to a temporary suspension of an educator's certificate until the case is resolved.⁸

  Education Code 22A.203, added by S.B. 571 (effective June 20, 2025): the State Board for Educator Certification must temporarily suspend a certificate on arrest for an offense listed in 22A.201(a), and a hearing on revocation follows the final disposition. People who are ineligible are also listed on the Texas Education Agency's registry of persons not eligible for employment (22A.151).

• Deferred adjudication can count in Texas, and prison time ends a Texas certificate automatically.^5,8

  Texas Education Code 22A.201(a)(1) applies to deferred adjudication as well as convictions for the listed sex and school-related offenses. Under Occupations Code 53.021(b), as TEA explains it, a certificate is revoked by operation of law on imprisonment after a felony conviction or a revocation of community supervision, parole or mandatory supervision, and you can't reapply for 5 years from the revocation (19 TAC 249.44(b)).

• Arrests must be disclosed in some states even if charges were dropped.⁴

  Pennsylvania's PDE-6004 form requires school employees to report arrests and convictions for Section 111 offenses, and PDE says withdrawn charges don't change whether an arrest occurred; it does not require disclosure of records that were legally expunged. Failing to disclose can lead to discipline or termination.

• Sex-offender registration is a near-universal bar.^6,8,18

  California must deny a credential to anyone required to register (Education Code 44346(b)(2)), Texas lists registration offenses among its mandatory bars (22A.201(a)(1)(A)), and federally funded child care bars registrants (42 U.S.C. 9858f(c)(1)(C)).

Waivers and exceptions

• Texas: ask TEA for a Preliminary Criminal History Evaluation before you enroll in a preparation program.⁵

  The evaluation costs a non-refundable $50, is voluntary and non-binding, and TEA says it will send a letter within 90 calendar days. It is based on the criminal history you report and a name-based Texas Department of Public Safety check, so incomplete information can make it inaccurate. You can ask if you are enrolled or plan to enroll in an educator preparation program, or plan to take a certification exam, and believe a felony or misdemeanor conviction or deferred adjudication may make you ineligible. It doesn't replace the fingerprint check when you apply.

• California: a certificate of rehabilitation and pardon, record relief, or 5 years of rehabilitation can reopen the door for some offenses.^6,7

  Education Code 44346(b)-(c): a sex offense or controlled substance conviction isn't by itself a bar if you have a certificate of rehabilitation and pardon and the case was dismissed under Penal Code 1203.4 (registrants are still denied); the Commission may credential someone with a controlled substance offense after at least 5 years of rehabilitation or 1203.4 relief; and since January 1, 2023 (SB 731) a simple-possession conviction (Health and Safety Code 11350 or 11377) more than 5 years old that has been granted record relief can't be the only reason for denial. For violent or serious felonies, the Commission may, but doesn't have to, grant a credential to someone with a certificate of rehabilitation and pardon (44346.1(d)).

• New York: if you're denied clearance, you have the right to be heard and offer proof.³

  Education Law 3035(3)(a). Correction Law Article 23-A factors, such as time since the offense and rehabilitation, apply to the decision.

• Pennsylvania: schools may decline to apply a Section 111 ban where applying it would be unconstitutional for that person, after an individual review documented with a lawyer's opinion.¹⁶

  PDE says it would not sanction a school official who, after due diligence and in consultation with counsel, concludes in good faith that applying Section 111 to an individual would be unconstitutional, and that rehabilitation evidence is one of the factors to weigh.

How states handle it

Mostly state: each state's education agency or credentialing board decides who can be certified, and state law also controls school hiring. The federal pieces are the anti-'passing the trash' requirement for states taking federal K-12 money and the separate disqualifying-crime list for federally funded child care. Private schools may have different rules; check the state.

• Texas

  Texas must deny or revoke a certificate for sex-offender-registration offenses, felonies against the person and certain other offenses (Education Code 22A.201, moved from 21.058 in 2025), may sanction for other offenses related to teaching, suspends certificates on arrest for listed offenses since June 20, 2025, and offers a $50 non-binding Preliminary Criminal History Evaluation before you enroll.⁵

• California

  California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing must deny credentials for sex offenses, controlled substance offenses, sex-offender registration and violent or serious felonies, with exceptions through a certificate of rehabilitation and pardon, record relief, or (for drug offenses) 5 years of rehabilitation.⁶

• Pennsylvania

  Pennsylvania's School Code has lifetime bans for certain offenses and 10-, 5- and 3-year bans for others, but after 2012 Commonwealth Court rulings the Department of Education tells schools to apply them case by case, with offenses involving children's safety presumptively still barring employment.¹⁶

• New York

  New York fingerprints certification applicants and school job applicants and must decide clearance under Correction Law Article 23-A, so a conviction leads to denial only if it is directly related to the job or poses an unreasonable risk, and a denied applicant gets a hearing.³

What to do next

1. Get your full criminal record (state and FBI) and the court dispositions, so you know what a fingerprint check will show, including any deferred adjudication, dismissals and expungements.
2. Pick the state where you want to teach and read its education department's criminal-history rules: the list of offenses that require denial, any waiting periods, and whether it uses a fair chance standard.
3. Before paying for a teacher preparation program, ask whether the state offers an advance review (for example Texas's Preliminary Criminal History Evaluation) and use it if so.
4. Check whether record relief (expungement, dismissal, a certificate of rehabilitation, a pardon) would change the outcome in that state, and pursue it if it would.
5. Disclose every arrest and conviction the application asks about, exactly as asked; non-disclosure is a separate reason for denial or firing in several states.
6. Gather rehabilitation evidence: completed sentence, work history (especially with young people), education, treatment and references.
7. If you're denied, use the hearing or appeal process the state provides.

Where to ask

• Texas Education Agency: Preliminary Criminal History Evaluation

  Ask TEA about your eligibility before you enroll ($50).

• Pennsylvania Department of Education: Background checks

  Required clearances and the Section 111 employment bans.

• California Education Code § 44346

  Offenses that require denial of a California teaching credential, and the exceptions.

• New York Education Law § 3035

  How New York decides school employment clearance.

Felony or misdemeanor?

Some of the rules on this page treat felonies and misdemeanors differently, and each state decides which crimes are which. See how your state grades crimes, or check a specific charge on Is it a felony?.

Could clearing your record help?

In many states a sealed or expunged record no longer shows up on most background checks, though agencies and licensing boards can often still see it. See how record clearing works in your state.