TEA Website Linking Policy

Advance permission to link to TEA (tea.texas.gov) or TEA-related sites is not necessary. Be aware that TEA or TEA-related site subpages may change or be deleted at any time without notice. Entities and individuals linking to tea.texas.gov are encouraged to verify link accuracy periodically. Entities and individuals linking to tea.texas.gov or TEA-related sites shall not capture TEA pages within frames, present TEA content as its own, or otherwise misrepresent TEA content. They shall not misinform users about the origin or ownership of TEA content, or in any way attempt to modify the content and present it as the content of tea.texas.gov or TEA-related sites. Some information on tea.texas.gov or TEA-related sites may be protected by trademark and copyright laws and otherwise protected as intellectual property. Protected intellectual property must be used in accordance with state and federal laws and must reflect the proper ownership of the intellectual property.

Any link to the TEA or TEA-related site should be a full forward link that passes the client browser to tea.texas.gov without barriers. The "back" button should return the visitor to original site if the visitor wishes to back out.

Links from TEA

This section outlines the criteria that external websites must meet to have a link from tea.texas.gov. TEA reserves the right to link to external websites that would provide a service to the citizen.

External Web Sites

Upon leaving tea.texas.gov and linking to an external site, the policies governing tea.texas.gov no longer apply and users are subject to the external site’s policies. Questions and concerns regarding the information or services provided by a linked site must be directed to the entity or individual responsible for that site, rather than to TEA.

Acceptance Criteria

Tea.texas.gov links to federal, state, and local governments that provide information and services that benefit Texas citizens and businesses. At its discretion, TEA will consider link requests to non-governmental websites that contain information and/or services that further the purpose of TEA. Any link suggestions to tea.texas.gov must undergo review to determine its relevance and appropriateness with respect to TEA. Links are approved for TEA based on the following criteria:

• The external website corresponds with the purpose of TEA.
• The site's content is appropriate with respect to the purpose of TEA and the site is not a:
  • Commercial site, which charges a fee for products or services online (exceptions will be made, at the discretion of TEA staff, for entities that charge a fee to provide educational content and/or resources for students and teachers; notices of the availability of publications by government entities that charge for the publications or notices of government-sponsored conferences that charge a registration fee are not commercial sites and may be considered for linking);
  • Site that exhibits hate, bias, discrimination, pornography, libelous or otherwise defamatory content;
  • Site that advocates or promotes the use of alcohol or tobacco;
  • Site that lobbies, advocates, or advances the policies and priorities of a particular industry, organization or enterprise. This includes sites of non-profit organizations (but excludes Texas’ 20 Education Service Centers);
  • Site belonging to or supporting a political affiliation; or
  • Site that furthers the agenda of a political organization or candidate running for office.

Link suggestions should be sent to webpostings@tea.texas.gov. Each link suggestion should address how the site meets the two acceptance criteria outlined above.

Conditions for Link Maintenance on TEA

We require that links to external websites on tea.texas.gov meet the following conditions in order to remain on the site:

• The linked site must provide the user with access to an email address and/or a customer service telephone number on every page of the site, in order for users to contact the site if there are problems with format, accuracy, timeliness or payment processing.
• Linked sites should not excessively burden the TEA customer support system. If the site excessively burdens the TEA customer support system, TEA has discretion to remove the link from tea.texas.gov.
• When a TEA site visitor clicks on the external website link, he/she must have easy access back to tea.texas.gov. One of two options can accomplish this:
  • A link to TEA can be established on the external website's main page; or
  • The "Back" button returns the user to tea.texas.gov.
• Linked sites must have a privacy and security policy accessible from their home page informing the user of what information is collected, how it is collected, how it is used and how the user can review and correct the information.
• Linked sites must notify TEA through its site Administrator at the email address provided below if the site to which tea.texas.gov links becomes inaccurate or inactive.
• TEA reserves the right to remove approved links if they are inaccurate or inactive, or at any time violate any of these requirements.

Reciprocal links

The TEA website does not enter into reciprocal link agreements. We provide links to sites that are appropriate to our mission. If we create a link to your site, you do not have to provide a link back to us. Of course, you are welcome to do so.

Linking Policy Contact Information

For questions and concerns regarding the linking policy, email us at teainfo@tea.texas.gov.