Lana Hutchinson, a department staff member who led the portal demonstration, said the Louisiana Educator Certification portal (LEC, also referred to in the call as LEHI during testing) completed alpha and beta testing and is “still anticipating launching around July 28,” with training and reference materials to follow.

Hutchinson demonstrated how the portal will require educators to initiate applications and said an automated criminal background check (CBC) clear credential verification will prevent an educator from starting most certification applications until the department has a clear credential or a CBC on file that is less than five years old. “If your educators…do not have that clear credential or CBC, then the only application they’ll see when they try to do that is…fingerprint clearance required before proceeding,” Hutchinson said.

Department staff said they will allow a two‑week window after launch during which PDF applications may still be submitted through TeachLA Live; after that window, TeachLA Live will be turned off and the LEC portal will be the only submission route. Hutchinson said the team will record training sessions and post user guides; training will be announced on TeachLouisiana.net and the Teach LA Live portal.

The portal integrates with existing state accounts and systems. Hutchinson advised that public school staff who already use the Louisiana Educator portal will automatically see certification features when LEC goes live; nonpublic staff and preparation providers will need a MyLA account and an eScholar staff ID and must request permissions through EdLink Security to sign as HR or preparation providers. Hutchinson recommended requesting a staff ID ahead of the launch to avoid day‑one bottlenecks.

Other operational details covered in the demonstration: the application forms are web‑based; HR and preparation providers will see an “active applications” list showing items routed to them; applicants cannot complete checkout until all required signers have signed; any authorized party on an application can pay the processing fee on behalf of the applicant; and there is a prepaid‑receipt workflow for legacy payments that requires the educator to confirm the receipt in the new system.

Hutchinson and other staff repeatedly urged districts and providers to review their on‑desk PDF queues before the two‑week transition to avoid re‑entering paperwork and to plan for training. The department said specific training dates would be posted once the development team confirms the final go‑live date.