Behind the credentials

Chances are, if you’re involved in education in Orange County in some way, shape or form, you’ve interacted with Credentialing and Fingerprinting Services at the Orange County Department of Education.

For OCDE employees, that interaction may have started in the Credentialing office, listening to the department’s hallmark jazz music while waiting to be called in for an interview. For educators, it likely involved filling out a form — or several — for any number of permits, credentials or certifications.

The Credentials unit serves as a gateway to OCDE and, in many ways, to public education. Working in tandem with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the unit helps school districts across Orange County ensure educators hold the appropriate credentials for their assignments.

Simple enough, right? Not quite.

More than 20,000 full-time teachers work throughout Orange County, many of whom hold multiple credentials or certifications. Bilingual authorizations, for example, may be required for educators working with English learners.

When looked at as a whole, it becomes a little easier to understand the sheer volume of work handled by the Credentials team.

For anyone applying for one of these credentials or certifications, the first step of the process often starts with a visit to the Credentials website, where applicants can book an appointment and complete a live scan to have their fingerprints submitted to the appropriate state and county agencies.

With appointments available year-round every 15 minutes and booked three to four weeks in advance, the credentialing website sees a steady stream of traffic.

Their office sees a heavy amount of foot traffic as well.

Busiest times of the year for completed appointments

Days of the week most frequently booked for appointments

Busiest times of the year for completed appointments

Days of the week most frequently booked for appointments

Most popular types of appointments

Fiscal year July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2026

30-Day Emergency Substitute Permit, OCDE CH and CTC

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Live Scan/Fingerprint for OCDE

Clearing House

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30-Day Emergency Substitute Permit and OCDE CH

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Child Development Permit

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Most popular types of appointments

Fiscal year July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2026

30-Day Emergency Substitute Permit, OCDE CH and CTC

⁹⁵⁸

Live Scan/Fingerprint for OCDE

Clearing House

⁹²⁸

30-Day Emergency Substitute Permit and OCDE CH

⁶¹⁴

Child Development Permit

²²⁸

And then there are the forms. Lots of forms.

Ask Donna Mantei, manager of Credential Services, for a ballpark figure of how many CTC-required forms she handles over a given period, and she’ll probably laugh.

Not in a cruel or belittling way, but more in the way of someone who has been asked to place a number on something that is simply too numerous to count. She’ll find the question so amusing that she can't wait to ask her coworkers, just to watch their reaction.

They all laugh, just the same.

There are CTC-required forms for virtually every application, credential, permit and day-to-day task. In some cases, a single credential application can require as many as 18 separate pages.

Mantei describes trying to figure out which forms are needed for each application like playing "Tetris" — a constant scramble to fit the right pieces as a massive volume of requests comes tumbling down.

The work is divided between Mantei and three credential specialists: Maria Pelayo, Corina Ramos and Dee Zelinski.

Each is assigned a portion of Orange County districts to help process the thousands of applications that flood in each year from across the county.

At any moment, however, the forms may be updated as laws, policies or agency requirements change — keeping the team constantly on their toes.

Live scans are handled by Credential Assistant Elizabeth Bankston, who represents the face of the office as she greets each guest with an appointment every 15 minutes. Once the prints are collected, they are sent to the necessary agencies, including the Department of Justice and sometimes the FBI.

The DOJ will then clear or delay each set of prints and sends out daily reports, which Mantei carefully reads over every morning.

The paperwork doesn't stop once the applications are processed.

Credentials are granted for very specific purposes and must be renewed every few years, making it Credentialing’s job to ensure each educator remains legally qualified for their teaching assignments.

Districts report those assignments to the California Department of Education, which then sends its own report to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. There, potential mismatches between an educator’s credential and assignment are flagged as exceptions.

Those exceptions are then relayed to Credentialing, where the team works with districts to resolve each one. In the last fiscal year alone, the department processed 6,728 exceptions, helping Orange County teachers and districts maintain compliance.

Perhaps the most surprising part of all is that many of the forms used are still required on paper. But that’s about to change.

While the CTC has not yet established an official deadline, application submissions are expected to transition online in the near future. To prepare for the shift, Credentialing has been working with OCDE’s Information Technology division to create secure links that will allow districts to upload the sensitive information contained in many of the forms.

Additionally, Credentialing has made a point to modernize its own workflow. A new online appointment scheduling system and point-of-sale system have streamlined the process, while a complete overhaul of the department’s website has made it easier to determine which forms are required for different applications.

Admittedly, though, the changes won’t necessarily reduce the volume of support the team provides, Mantei said.