TDLR details interim rollout for HB 1560; schools get separate SHEARS access, distance education limits clarified

Ray Pizarro, director for the Education and Examination Division at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, told barbering and cosmetology school representatives that the agency will use an interim process to implement changes from House Bill 1560 rather than wait for a single merged SHEARS system to be completed. "That SHEARS is not ready, but we do have an alternative plan," Pizarro said, adding that schools will be able to enroll in the barber SHEARS and the cosmetology SHEARS separately and will receive logins for both when they are approved to teach each course.

The change matters because HB 1560 allows school programs to offer barbering and cosmetology under one roof, but the department said the technical work to merge the two SHEARS platforms is still underway. "We don't have the Barber Cosmetology SHEARS completed yet," Pizarro said, and the department described the rollout as "baby steps" while staff finalize system updates. Officials repeatedly asked schools to use the updated SHEARS manual and the division's web form for inquiries while staff manage a large increase in workload.

Why it matters: staff said the interim approach will let schools begin offering approved courses sooner without waiting for a full system merge. Schools that want to add courses must submit curriculum-approval forms; staff will create a second school license and provide access at no additional cost when a program needs cosmetology access in order to enroll operator, manicure or eyelash students.

Key details provided by staff

- Eligibility and timeline: agency presenters said schools will be eligible to teach both barbering and cosmetology beginning in early September once approved. Presenters referred to Sept. 1 as the date the new materials and manuals will be available and also used Sept. 5 when describing the start of some rollout activities; staff said open houses and remapped PSI events will begin in October for further training and Q&A.

- SHEARS access: until the merged system is finished, barber and cosmetology SHEARS remain separate. A barber school that adds operator or specialty courses will be issued cosmetology SHEARS access (license number and PIN) at no cost so the school can enroll and report those students in cosmetology SHEARS while continuing to report class A barber students through barber SHEARS.

- Hour and curriculum rules: class A barber and cosmetology operator licenses each require 1,000 hours. Of those, 700 hours are core technical hours that count as dual credit toward both license types; the remaining 300 hours are specialty hours specific to each license. Staff told schools to ensure their course curricula clearly separate theory and practical hours when requesting distance-education approval.

- Distance education: staff said distance education allowances were increased to 50% but stressed an important limitation: "No practical hours can be offered through distance education," a presenter said. Distance-education approval is now part of each course application rather than a separate form; schools must request the number of remote theory hours within the course application.

- Certificates and guidance materials: presenters said new certificate-of-approval forms (described in the session as a yellow 2023 edition) will list approved courses and should be available by year-end; the updated SHEARS operations manual will be downloadable with hyperlinks when the system updates go live.

What schools should do next

Staff urged schools to: consult the updated SHEARS manual before emailing staff; submit curriculum-approval forms for any course changes or to request increased distance-education hours; and use the SHEARS web form on the Barber and Cosmetology pages (Education and Examination) to submit questions, labeling the topic (for example, "training") to route requests.

Quotes from presenters

"You are gonna have login abilities to log in to the barbering SHEARS and to the cosmetology SHEARS," Ray Pizarro said, explaining the interim access plan. Cecilia (a program presenter) told attendees, "There will be no additional fee to add the second license," referring to how the department will provision cosmetology access for barber schools that add operator or specialty courses. On distance education, a presenter said, "Now the distance education was increased to 50%, but there's a very important piece to that that needs to be dedicated to theory hours only. No practical hours can be offered through distance education."

Closing and next steps

Department staff described the rollout as phased and incremental and said they will host open houses and Q&A sessions (PSI events) in the fall to walk schools through the new processes. The presentation materials and a recording will be posted on the Barber and Cosmetology web pages; staff asked schools to be patient as the small Education and Examination team manages incoming curriculum changes and support requests.