Charter Schools Join Texas IPM Mandate as AgriLife Sets Aug. 18 Coordinator Training

A Texas rule that took effect this year quietly expanded the pest control compliance map for hundreds of schools—and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service is wasting no time getting the people responsible up to speed. On August 18, the agency will run its School Integrated Pest Management Coordinator Training online, a one-day Zoom course timed for the first school year in which publicly funded charter schools must name an IPM coordinator of their own.

Independent school districts have carried that obligation since 1995. Extending it to charter schools in 2026 created a fresh class of coordinators who need state-mandated training before students settle into classrooms. The August 18 session, running 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m., fulfills the requirement for newly appointed coordinators and doubles as a six-hour refresher for veterans working toward their three-year recertification. Registration costs $80 through tx.ag/PestMgmtTexasIPM.

For pest management professionals, the course is more than an education story. Texas law makes the school IPM coordinator and the contractor a working pair: no pesticide goes down until the pest is identified—whether insect, weed, rodent or disease—along with where it is and whether it poses a risk to people.

"While this class is a mandatory requirement for school IPM coordinators, anyone who works within a school district or pest control company should understand why this law was put into place 30 years ago," said Janet Hurley, AgriLife Extension senior program specialist for school IPM, who will lead the instruction from Dallas alongside Jake Wightman, an agricultural and environmental safety program specialist based in Bryan-College Station. "They also investigate how it entered the area, such as through an open door, backpack or box, and why it is present. Before applying a pesticide, they evaluate whether nonchemical methods, including removing food sources, sealing entry points or improving sanitation, can reduce or eliminate the pest."

What the Day Covers

The morning opens with IPM fundamentals in school settings—inspections, monitoring, action thresholds and where pesticides fit inside a broader program—before turning to the regulatory spine of the job: Texas pesticide applicator rules and the Texas Department of Agriculture's jurisdiction, school IPM rules, label and recordkeeping requirements, the yellow and red approval forms, storage and disposal, and how to report spills and incidents.

Afternoon sessions move to the paperwork that trips up districts most often: notifications and postings, the Notice of Pest Control Treatment, the Consumer Information Sheet, outdoor treatment requirements and emergency waivers. Management of stinging and biting pests—fire ants, wasps and bees, the usual Texas schoolyard offenders—gets its own session. The day closes on program maintenance: coordinator duties, continuing education, policy statements, parental notification, and resources for teachers, staff, parents and pest management professionals.

CEUs for the Pros

Pest control operators who service school accounts have direct reason to attend. The course carries six Texas Department of Agriculture Structural Pest Control Service continuing education units—two in laws and regulations, two in IPM, one in safety and one general—plus six TDA agricultural CEUs split across pesticide factors, laws and regulations, safety and IPM.

With charter school coordinators now subject to the same compliance expectations as their district counterparts, companies holding school contracts should expect more questions—and more documentation requests—from new coordinators learning the rules for the first time. Hurley's team can be reached for course details through AgriLife Extension's school IPM program.