General Education Complaints
If a parent, student, staff member, or organization disagrees with actions taken in a Texas public school, trying to reach a resolution directly with the school or district will likely provide you with the quickest result. This can be accomplished informally or through the district's local grievance process. If the issue cannot be resolved by working directly with the school district and you believe a state or federal law may have been violated, you may file a written complaint with TEA.
Complaints TEA Can Investigate
- Violations of federally funded or required programs (e.g., English language/bilingual education, Title 1, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief)
- Misuse of federal or state funds by a public education agency (e.g., funding related to school safety, McKinney Vento, the Texas Migrant Education Program)
- Conditions in a public school that violate statute protecting the health, safety, or wellbeing of students and staff
- Violations of legal obligations regarding school district boards of trustees, governing bodies of public charter schools, or superintendents or chief operating officers of school districts and public charter schools
- Violations of state assessment instrument security procedures
- Manipulation of records, reports, data, or other inaccurate information submitted to TEA by a school district through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS)
- Educator misconduct
Is your complaint not listed? Some topics are outside of TEA's authority. Learn more about complaints addressed by other agencies.
Filing a Complaint with TEA
Recommended: Use our Parent Complaint Navigator.
Ways TEA May Support You
TEA's Parent Complaint Navigator will ask you a short series of multiple-choice questions and, based on your responses, tell you the best way to resolve your question or concern.
If TEA can legally address your complaint
The Parent Complaint Navigator will tell you exactly how to file your complaint with us and provide other resources to support you.
- Once we receive your complaint, we will send you a confirmation email.
- We may request you provide additional or more specific information within 15 calendar days. If we do not receive the requested information within 15 days, we will close the complaint and take no further action.
- Please be aware that it may be a lengthy process if TEA needs to investigate.
- Learn about how TEA conducts investigations on our Special Investigations Unit Investigative Procedures page.
If TEA cannot legally address your complaint
The Parent Complaint Navigator will refer you to the agency that can best address your concern.
- In some instances, we may still advise that you submit a complaint with TEA, and we will connect you with your school district’s superintendent and formally ask the district to work with you to reach an agreement about your concern. This is called the alternative dispute resolution process.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Recommended: Complete and submit the General Education online complaint form
- Mail a hard copy of the form to the following address:
Texas Education Agency - Complaints Management
1701 N. Congress Ave.
Austin, TX 78701-1494
IMPORTANT: Information sent by email may not be secure. Please avoid sending confidential or sensitive information (e.g., social security numbers) to TEA by email. Complaints and correspondence received by email will receive an automated email response with general information about the complaints and local grievance processes within 24 hours. You may find this email in your inbox or your spam folder. TEA removes confidential or sensitive information when replying by email and maintains confidentiality of information as the law allows.
Required Information
Please make sure your complaint includes all of the following information:
- Full name and contact information of the person filing the complaint (Students under the age of 18 will also need to provide contact information for a parent/guardian)
- Name of the school district
- Detailed description of the actions or decisions that violate a school law
- Evidence of a school law violation
- Name of the school staff members notified of the complaint and their responses
- Indication of whether the complaint was filed with other agencies and their responses
- The resolution requested
- Full and accurate names of involved educators (NOTE: You can use the certification lookup tool to check if an individual is a certified educator in Texas)
Filing for a Parent or a Student Over 18
If you are filing a complaint on behalf of a parent or a student over 18 years old, you must complete a Release Form. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, also known as FERPA, we must have a completed form signed by the parent or adult student to release information to you. Attach the completed release form to the complaint form or email to complaintsmanagement@tea.texas.gov.
Examples of documentation that may be helpful include bullying investigation reports, local grievance decisions, and emails or messages from the school.
No, we do not accept complaints by phone.
Please call Complaints Management at (512) 463-3544 for support with your complaint.
TEA accepts anonymous complaints except for special education and educator investigations. However, we strongly encourage you to share your contact information with us to ensure we can follow up with questions if needed.
Information can only be kept confidential to the extent allowed by law. TEA follows the Texas Public Information Act for releasing information. TEA must maintain the confidentiality of all student information protected by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. If a member of the public requests preliminary or audit working papers, the TEA may ask the Texas Office of Attorney General to exclude specific information from public disclosure.
No, TEA does not respond to courtesy copies of correspondence. We classify communications and documents received via courtesy copy as transitory information and maintain it only as long as needed.
Questions regarding the general education complaint process may be addressed to:
Texas Education Agency - Complaints Management
1701 N. Congress Ave.
Austin, TX 78701-1494
Telephone: (512) 463-3544
complaintsmanagement@tea.texas.gov
For general information about TEA or public schools, visit the General Inquiries page or contact:
Texas Education Agency - General Inquiry
Telephone: (512) 463-9290
generalinquiry@tea.texas.gov
No, TEA does not have the authority to investigate a school district to overturn an outcome you received from the local grievance process. Instead, you may have grounds to appeal the outcome of a school district decision.
Division Resources
The following webinars provide the most current information regarding general education complaints in Texas:
View Parent Complaint Navigator
Our Parent Complaint Navigator will ask you a short series of multiple-choice questions and, based on your responses, provide you with the information and resources you need to address your specific question or concern.
Complaints Management
Phone: (512) 463-3544
Email: ComplaintsManagement@tea.texas.gov
When leaving a voicemail or sending an email, please include your first and last name, your phone number, your question, and any other relevant information.