The Education Standards Advisory Committee (ESAC) met January 3 and discussed potential courses and appointed new leadership.

New Committee Officers

The committee appointed three new officers to serve through 2022:

• Charles Porter, Ph.D., chair
• Candy Cooke, vice-chair
• Bill Steddum, Jr., secretary

Administrative Audit and Instructor Qualifications Reviewed

The committee received an update from TREC staff regarding its current administrative audit and instructor qualifications review launched in early 2021. The goal of the administrative audit is to ensure providers understand and are following TREC rules. Administrative audits are not punitive and are currently in process for TREC’s 39 qualifying providers. The audit includes an interview with the provider to find out more about the history of the provider and challenges the provider might be experiencing. TREC also requests certain items from the providers, including:

• A list of the instructors that they have used within the last calendar year, three of which are randomly chosen to provide resumes and supporting documents to confirm their qualification
• A copy of advertising flyers, if applicable
• Confirmation of website URL to review for advertising compliance
• Access to current pre-enrollment agreement and verification students have signed
• A copy of refund policy if separate from the enrollment agreement
• Access to student attendance records, as well as course completion records.

New Working Group

The committee created a working group to discuss the role and responsibilities of the broker and agent and whether there should be a new course or educational content added to existing courses for pre-licensing education.

View materials from the meeting and a video recording.

Upcoming Meeting Information

The next meeting of the Education Standards Advisory Committee is Monday, April 4. In accordance with normal Commission practice, any meeting materials will be available on the TREC website before the meeting.   To participate by providing public comment during the meeting, contact general.counsel@trec.texas.gov by 5 p.m. CT on Friday, April 1, 2022, along with the agenda item number you wish to speak on. If you are unable to attend the meeting live, you can email your public comments instead.