Colorado Teacher License Renewal
Colorado teacher license renewal for a professional license means submitting 90 contact hours (or six semester hours) of professional development through the state’s COOL system before the license’s seven-year validity period ends. At least 10 of those hours must cover behavioral health and students with disabilities, and some educators need 45 more in English Learner training. Initial licenses, valid three years, renew through the same COOL process with different requirements.
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Colorado teacher license renewal runs entirely through the Colorado Department of Education’s online licensing system, COOL, whether your license is still active or has already expired. What you owe the state depends on which license you hold. Professional License-holders need 90 contact hours of documented professional development, including two sub-requirements added in recent years that catch a lot of teachers off guard. Initial License-holders face a lighter, different checklist.
Teaching Certification Renewal
Colorado issues an Initial Teacher License first. It’s valid for three years and, in most cases, you’ll advance out of it by completing an approved induction program through your hiring school district. Induction pairs you with a mentor teacher, includes ongoing professional development and ethics training, and involves performance evaluations along the way. Once you finish it, you submit your induction completion certificate through COOL and apply to advance to a Professional License. If your Initial License comes up for renewal before induction is finished, you renew it directly instead, and if you’re renewing an Initial License for a second time or more, CDE requires a letter of good cause explaining why induction still isn’t complete.
The Professional License is where most renewal questions come in, and it’s also where the biggest recent change lives. Colorado extended the Professional License validity period from five years to seven years under HB21-1104. If you’re still picturing a five-year cycle, that’s outdated information, and it changes your renewal math.
To renew a Professional License, you need 90 contact hours (or six semester hours of college credit) of professional development completed within the seven years of your active license. If your license has already expired, those same 90 hours need to fall within the seven years immediately preceding the date you submit your renewal application.
A minimum of 10 of those 90 hours has to include at least one contact hour on culturally responsive, trauma- and evidence-informed behavioral health training, and at least one contact hour on laws and practices around educating students with disabilities, including Child Find. The rest of the 10-hour minimum, and the remaining 80 hours, can come from any qualifying professional development.
If you hold a professional license with an elementary, English language arts, math, science, social studies, or middle-level endorsement, you also need an English Learner Professional Learning designation, which requires 45 contact hours, unless you’ve already earned it. Those 45 hours count toward your 90-hour total rather than on top of it. Educators who already hold a CLD, CLDB, LDE, or LDEB endorsement have already satisfied this requirement.
Both the Professional License renewal fee and the Initial License renewal fee are $90. Before you apply, make sure you have a current background check on file with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. You only need to submit new fingerprints if you’ve never submitted them for CDE licensure purposes, or if your prior background check has lapsed or wasn’t completed within 30 days of CDE receiving it. Once your documentation and PD hours are ready, log in to COOL and select “renew” in the credential details section of your dashboard. The Renew a Professional Teacher License checklist on CDE’s site lays out exactly what to have ready before you start.
Reinstatement of Colorado Teaching Certification
Colorado doesn’t run a separate reinstatement process. An expired Professional or Initial License goes through the same COOL “renew” workflow as an active one, just measured against a different window: your PD hours need to fall within the seven years immediately preceding the date you submit your application, rather than within your license’s active period. There’s no separate penalty fee beyond the standard $90 renewal fee, and no additional testing required unless your endorsement area’s exam or content-knowledge requirements have changed since your license expired, which is worth checking on CDE’s Teacher License Requirements page before you apply.
If your expired license is an Initial License, expect to submit a letter explaining why your induction program still isn’t complete, along with updated work experience and any required self-disclosures. Because requirements can shift while a license sits expired, CDE recommends checking the current endorsement and exam rules for your specific credential before assuming the old requirements still apply.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How long is a Colorado teaching license valid?
An Initial Teacher License is valid for three years. A Professional Teacher License, which you earn after completing an approved induction program, is valid for seven years. That seven-year window is a relatively recent change. It used to be five years before Colorado extended it under HB21-1104.
How many professional development hours do I need to renew my Colorado teaching license?
Ninety contact hours, or six semester hours of college credit, completed within your seven-year license period. At least 10 of those hours must include specific behavioral health and students-with-disabilities training. If your endorsement is in elementary education, English, math, science, social studies, or a middle-level subject and you haven’t already earned the English Learner designation, you also need 45 hours of English Learner professional development, counted toward your 90-hour total.
Where do I actually submit my Colorado license renewal, and what does it cost?
Through COOL, the Colorado Department of Education’s online educator licensing system. Log in, find your credential details, and select the renew option once your documentation and PD hours are ready. The application fee is $90 for both Initial and Professional license renewals, and it isn’t refundable once submitted.
What happens if my Colorado teaching license expires?
You renew it the same way you would an active license, through COOL, just with your PD hours measured against the seven years immediately before your application date instead of your license’s active period. There’s no extra penalty fee, though an expired Initial License-holder needs to submit a letter explaining their induction status and may need to meet updated endorsement requirements.
Do I need to submit fingerprints every time I renew my Colorado teaching license?
Only if you don’t already have a current background check on file. If you’ve never submitted fingerprints for CDE licensure purposes, or your previous background check lapsed or wasn’t completed within CDE’s 30-day window, you’ll need to submit a new set to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation before applying.
- Professional licenses now last seven years, not five — HB21-1104 extended the renewal cycle, so if you’re planning around the old five-year timeline, your math is off.
- The 90-hour requirement has built-in minimums — at least 10 hours must cover behavioral health and students with disabilities, and educators in certain endorsement areas need 45 hours of English Learner training unless they’ve already earned that designation.
- Fingerprints aren’t required at every renewal — only if you don’t already have a current background check on file with CDE.
- There’s no separate reinstatement process — an expired license renews through the same COOL workflow, just with PD hours measured against the years right before your application date.
Find accredited teacher certification programs in Colorado, including endorsement options and continuing education paths that count toward your renewal hours.
