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Credit Hours and Reporting Periods

Reporting periods for mandatory judicial education coincide with the state fiscal year, September 1 through August 31.

The Legislature delegated the responsibility for all judicial education programs funded by the Judges and Court Personnel Training Fund grant to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Registrar duties for maintaining judicial education records of Constitutional County Judges were transferred from the Texas Center for the Judiciary to the Texas Association of Counties January 1, 1994.

For experienced judges, the Rules of Judicial Education require 16 hours of approved judicial training for each reporting period. New judges are required 30 hours of approved judicial training within 12 months of taking office, then 16 hours per fiscal year thereafter.

Requirements for Judicial Education

• Judicial Education Reporting Period
  Reporting period for mandatory judicial education coincide with the state fiscal year, September 1 through August 31.
  
  
• Judicial Education Hours
  

Experienced Judges: The Rules of Judicial Education require experienced judges to obtain 16 hours of approved judicial training for each fiscal year reporting period. 

New Judges: The Rules for Judicial Education require new judges to obtain 30 hours of approved judicial training with 12 months of taking office, plus 1.33 hours for each month afterward until the end of the current fiscal year reporting period.

• NEW JUDGES EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS CHART
  
  

1st month in office	Hours Needed	Date 30.0 hours are needed by	Additional Hours Needed	Hours Formula (hours are rounded to the nearest whole number)	End of Fiscal Year	TOTAL HOURS NEEDED
Jan. 2008	30.0	Dec. 31,  2008	11.0	10.64 = 1.33 hours x 8 months (Jan – Aug)	Aug. 31, 2009	41.0
Feb. 2008	30.0	Jan. 29, 2009	9.0	9.31 = 1.33 hours x 7 months (Feb – Aug)	Aug. 31, 2009	39.0
Mar. 2008	30.0	Feb. 31, 2009	8.0	7.98 = 1.33 hours x 6 months (Mar – Aug)	Aug. 31, 2009	38.0
Apr. 2008	30.0	Mar. 31, 2009	7.0	6.65 = 1.33 hours x 5 months (Apr – Aug)	Aug. 31, 2009	37.0
May 2008	30.0	Apr. 30, 2009	5.0	5.32 = 1.33 hours x 4 months (May – Aug)	Aug. 31, 2009	35.0
Jun. 2008	30.0	May 31, 2009	4.0	3.99 = (1.33 hours x 3 months (Jun – Aug)	Aug. 31, 2009	34.0
Jul. 2008	30.0	Jun. 30, 2009	3.0	2.66 = 1.33 hours x 2 months (Jul – Aug)	Aug. 31, 2009	33.0
Aug. 2008	30.0	Jul,.31, 2009	1.0	1.33 = 1.33 hours x 1 month (Aug)	Aug. 31, 2009	31.0
Sep. 2008	30.0	Aug. 31, 2009	0.0	0.0 = 0 hours x 0 months	Aug. 31, 2009	30.0
Oct. 2008	30.0	Sep. 30, 2009	15.0	14.63 = 1.33 hours x 11 months (Oct – Aug)	Aug. 31, 2010	45.0
Nov. 2008	30.0	Oct. 31, 2009	13.0	13.3 = 1.33 hours x 10 months (Nov – Aug)	Aug. 31, 2010	43.0
Dec. 2008	30.0	Nov. 30, 2009	12.0	11.97 = 1.33 hours x 9 months (Dec – Aug)	Aug. 31, 2010	42.0



• Judicial Education Exemption
  

  Judges claiming judicial education exemption must submit an affidavit each reporting period to the Texas Association of Counties. 

  According to the Court of Criminal Appeals Rule of Judicial Education, Rule 2:
  
  “A constitutional county judge is exempt from the continuing judicial education requirements for any fiscal year for which the judge files an affidavit with the Registrar stating that the judge does not perform judicial functions.”

TAC Policy for Disclosure of Judicial Education Records

This policy complies with the Freedom of Information Act: an individual transcript of recorded hours will be mailed to each judge annually. Inquiries for judicial education records must:

• Be in writing, FAX requests are acceptable
• Specify records requested
• Include requesters name, address, and signature
• Pay reasonable fees for all records except their own
• Telephone disclosure of records may be made directly to the judge with identity verification. Sorry, this excludes staff!
• Judges will be notified of requests for their records but judges have no veto power over disclosure.

Several anonymous and voluminous requests for judges’ education records prompted adoption of the disclosure policy. We regret any inconvenience caused by this policy, it is intended for protection of your privacy and information. However, effective policy must be consistent and we ask your understanding when
TAC staff follows it.

For questions and information about Judicial Education records, call Joyce Francis at (512) 478-8753 or (800) 456-5974 for further assistance.