Texas Register

TITLE 22 EXAMINING BOARDS
PART 23TEXAS REAL ESTATE COMMISSION
CHAPTER 535GENERAL PROVISIONS
SUBCHAPTER FREQUIREMENTS FOR EDUCATION PROVIDERS, COURSES AND INSTRUCTORS FOR QUALIFYING EDUCATION
RULE §535.65Responsibilities and Operations of Providers of Qualifying Courses
ISSUE 09/05/2014
ACTION Proposed
Preamble Texas Admin Code Rule

(a)Responsibility of Providers.

  (1)A provider is responsible for:

    (A)the administration of each course, including, but not limited to, compliance with any prescribed period of time for any required course topics required by the Act, Chapter 1102, and Commission rules;

    (B)student attendance records;

    (C)instructor performance and attendance;

    (D)examination administration;

    (E)validation of student identity;

    (F)maintaining student course completion records;

    (G)ensuring all advertising complies with subsection (c);

    (H)ensuring that instructors or other persons do not recruit or solicit prospective salespersons, brokers or inspectors during course presentation;

    (I)ensuring staff is reasonably available for public inquiry and assistance;

    (J)ensuring that its classroom facilities are adequate for class size and pose no threat to the health or safety of students.

    (K)ensuring that each student is present for the course for the hours of time for which credit is awarded.

  (2)A provider may not promote the sale of goods or services during the presentation of a course.

  (3)A provider may remove a student and not award credit if a student does not participate in class, or disrupts the orderly conduct of a class, after being warned by the provider or the instructor.

  (4)If a provider approved by the Commission does not maintain a fixed office in Texas for the duration of the provider's approval to offer courses, the provider shall designate a resident of this state as attorney-in-fact to accept service of process and act as custodian of any records in Texas that the provider is required to maintain by this section. A power-of-attorney designating the resident must be filed with the Commission in a form acceptable to the Commission.

(b)Use of approved Instructor.

  (1)Except as provided by this subsection, a provider must use an instructor that is currently approved by the Commission.

  (2)Each instructor shall be selected on the basis of expertise in the subject area of instruction and ability as an instructor;

  (3)A provider shall require specialized training or work experience for instructors teaching specialized subjects such as law, appraisal, investments, taxation or home inspection;

  (4)An instructor shall teach a course in substantially the same manner represented to the Commission in the instructor's manual or other documents filed with the application for course approval form; and

  (5)A provider may use the services of a guest instructor who is not approved as an instructor by the Commission for qualifying real estate or inspector courses provided that person instructs for no more than 10% of the total course time.

(c)Advertising.

  (1)The following practices are prohibited:

    (A)using any advertising which does not contain the provider's name;

    (B)representing that the provider's program is the only vehicle by which a person may satisfy educational requirements;

    (C)conveying a false impression of the provider's size, superiority, importance, location, equipment or facilities, except that a provider may use objective information published by the Commission regarding pass rates;

    (D)promoting the provider directly or indirectly as a job placement agency, unless the provider is participating in a program recognized by federal, state, or local government and is providing job placement services to the extent the services are required by the program; or

    (E)making any statement which is misleading, likely to deceive the public, or which in any manner tends to create a misleading impression.

  (2)Any written advertisement by a provider that includes a fee that the provider charges for a course must display all fees that the provider charges for the course in the same place in the advertisement and with the same degree of prominence.

  (3)The provider shall advertise a course for the full clock hours of time for which credit is awarded.

(d)Pre-enrollment agreements for approved providers.

  (1)Prior to a student enrolling in a course, a provider approved by the Commission shall provide the student with a pre-enrollment agreement that includes all of the following information:

    (A)the tuition for the course;

    (B)an itemized list of any fees charged by the provider for supplies, materials, or books needed in course work;

    (C)the provider's policy regarding the refund of tuition and other fees, including a statement addressing refund policy when a student is dismissed or withdraws voluntarily;

    (D)the attendance requirements;

    (E)the acceptable makeup procedures, including any applicable time limits and any fees that may be charged for makeup sessions; and

    (F)the procedure and fees for taking any permitted makeup final examination or any permitted re-examination, including any applicable time limits.

  (2)A pre-enrollment agreement must be signed by a representative of the provider.

(e)Refund of fees by approved provider.

  (1)A provider shall establish written policies governing refunds and contingency plans in the event of course cancellation.

  (2)If a provider approved by the Commission cancels a course, the provider shall:

    (A)fully refund all fees collected from students within a reasonable time or;

    (B)at the student's option, credit the student for another course.

  (3)The provider shall inform the Commission when a student requests a refund because of a withdrawal due to the student's dissatisfaction with the quality of the course.

(f)Course materials.

  (1)Before the course starts, a provider shall give each student copies of any materials to be used for the course.

  (2)A provider shall update course materials to ensure that current and accurate information is provided to students as provided for under §535.62 of this subchapter.

(g)Presentation of courses.

  (1)Classroom:

    (A)The course must be offered in a location conducive to instruction, such as a classroom, training room, conference room, or assembly hall that is separate and apart from work areas;

    (B)The course must be scheduled for the full clock hours of time for which credit is awarded;

    (C)Course presentation per day cannot exceed 10 hours;

    (D)A 10 minute break per hour must be given at least every two hours;

  (2)Alternative Delivery:

    (A)the provider must ensure:

      (i)that a qualified person is available to answer students' questions or provide assistance as necessary; and

      (ii)that a student has attended any hours of live instruction required for a given course; and

    (B)an approved instructor or the provider's coordinator or director must be responsible for grading the written course work.

  (3)A provider is not required to present topics and units in the order outlined for a course on the corresponding course approval form.

  (4)The periods of time prescribed to each unit of a topic for a qualifying course as outlined on the corresponding course approval form are recommendations and may be altered to allow instructors flexibility to meet the particular needs of their students.

(h)Makeup Session.

  (1)A provider may permit a student who attends at least two-thirds of a originally scheduled qualifying course to complete a makeup session to satisfy attendance requirements.

  (2)A member of the provider's staff must approve the makeup procedure to be followed. Acceptable makeup procedures are:

    (A)attendance in corresponding class sessions in a subsequent offering of the same course; or

    (B)the supervised presentation by audio or video recording of the class sessions actually missed.

  (3)A student shall complete all class makeup sessions no later than the 90th day after the date of the completion of the original course,

  (4)Dropped status may not be changed by makeup sessions, and any hours accumulated by a student may not be transferred to any other course, prior to being dropped from a course.

  (5)If a student attends less than two-thirds of the originally scheduled qualifying course is not eligible to complete a makeup session. The student shall be automatically dropped from the course with no credit and the provider shall report the student's status to the Commission.

(i)Course examinations.

  (1)The final examination given at the end of each course must be the examination that was submitted to the Commission with the course approval form.

  (2)Each topic required by the Act or Rules for a qualifying course must be covered in the final examination for that course.

  (3)Unless otherwise provided for in this section, a provider shall use final course examinations consisting of at least 60 questions with an unweighted passing score of 70%.

  (4)Real estate math qualifying course examinations may consist of a minimum of 20 questions with an unweighted passing score of 70%.

  (5)Final examination questions must be kept confidential and be significantly different from any questions used for diagnostic assessment of units in the course.

  (6)A provider shall not permit a student to take a final examination before the completion of regular course work and any makeup sessions required by this section.

  (7)Examinations must be:

    (A)proctored by a member of the provider faculty or staff who is present at the test site and has positively identified that the students taking the examination are the students who took the course; or

    (B)administered using a computer under conditions that satisfy the Commission that the student taking the examination is the student who took the course.

  (8)A provider shall revise final course examinations for all active qualifying courses at least annually.

  (9)A provider may not give credit to a student who fails a final examination and makeup final examination.

(j)Makeup final course examination.

  (1)If a student fails a final course examination, a provider may permit the student to retake the final examination only once and only after the student has:

    (A)waited at least a seven calendar days; and

    (B)completed any additional course work prescribed by the provider.

  (2)A student shall complete a makeup final examination by a student no later than the 90th day after the date the original class concludes.

  (3)If a student fails to timely complete the makeup final examination as required by this subsection, the student shall be automatically dropped from the course with no credit.

  (4)A student who fails the final course examination a second time is required to retake the course prior to retaking the final course examination.

(k)Course completion certificate.

  (1)Upon successful completion of a core course, a provider shall issue a course completion certificate that a student can submit to the Commission. The course completion certificate shall show:

    (A)the provider's name;

    (B)the instructor's name and approval number assigned by the Commission;

    (C)the course title;

    (D)course numbers, including any Commission pre-approval number received,

    (E)the number of classroom hours;

    (F)the dates the student began and completed the course; and

    (G)printed name and signature of an official of the provider on record with the Commission.

  (2)A provider may withhold any official completion documentation required by this subsection from a student until the student has fulfilled all financial obligations to the provider.

  (3)A provider shall maintain adequate security against forgery for official completion documentation required by this subsection.

(m)Instructor and course evaluations.

  (1)A provider shall provide each student enrolled in a course with an instructor and course evaluation form and provide an online version of the form that a student can complete and submit any time after course completion.

  (2)An instructor may not be present when a student is completing the evaluation form and may not be involved in any manner with the evaluation process.

  (3)At a minimum, when evaluating an instructor or course, a provider shall use evaluation form approved by the Commission.

  (4)A provider shall maintain any comments made by the provider's management relevant to instructor or course evaluations with the provider's records.

  (5)At the Commission's request, a provider shall produce instructor and course evaluation forms for inspection by Commission staff.

(n)Maintenance of records for a provider of qualifying courses.

  (1)A provider shall maintain records of each student enrolled in a course for a minimum of four years following completion of the course, including course and instructor evaluations and student enrollment agreements.

  (2)A provider shall maintain financial records sufficient to reflect at any time the financial condition of the school.

  (3)A school's financial statement and balance sheets must be available for audit by Commission staff, and the Commission may require presentation of financial statements or other financial records.

  (4)All records may be maintained electronically but must be in a common format that is legibly and easily printed or viewed without additional manipulation or special software.

(o)Changes in Ownership or Operation of an approved provider of qualifying courses.

  (1)An approved provider shall obtain the approval of the Commission in advance of any material change in the operation of the provider, including but not limited to changes in:

    (A)ownership;

    (B)management; and

    (C)the location of main office and any other locations where courses are offered.

  (2)An approved provider, upon transfer to the new owner, must meet the financial review standards imposed by §535.61 of this subchapter.

  (3)An approved provider requesting approval of a change in ownership shall provide all of the following information or documents to the Commission:

    (A)a new bond of $20,000 for the proposed new owner, a statement from the bonding company indicating that the former bond will transfer to the proposed new owner, or other security acceptable to the Commission under §1101.302 of the Act;

    (B)an Education Provider Application reflecting all required information for each proposed new owner; and

    (C)a Principal Information Form for each proposed new owner who would hold at least a 10% interest in the school.

The agency certifies that legal counsel has reviewed the proposal and found it to be within the state agency's legal authority to adopt.

Filed with the Office of the Secretary of State on August 25, 2014

TRD-201404030

Kerri Lewis

General Counsel

Texas Real Estate Commission

Earliest possible date of adoption: October 5, 2014

For further information, please call: (512) 936-3092



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