The 2025-2026 SBE Chapter Certification Guidelines are Now Available

Aug 4, 2025

SBE Chapter Certifications are due January 13, 2026

The chapter certification guidelines and competition guidelines for the 2025-2026 school year are now available.

Recertification vs. Certification

When a school-based enterprise achieves certification at the gold level, they can apply to be gold re-certified for four additional years by submitting the appropriate documentation as outlined in the guidelines. After five years (one year of initial gold certification plus four additional years of re-certification), the SBE must complete the original gold certification process to be eligible for the gold-level certification award. There is no option for re-certifying at the bronze or silver level.

You can check the status of your SBE in the Online Membership System. In the menu, click SBE Certification History.

Chapter Certification

The SBE Certification and Re-Certification submission site will open on Monday, December 1, 2025. All projects have a submission deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, January 13, 2026.

When an SBE achieves certification at the gold level, they can apply to be gold re-certified for four additional years by submitting the appropriate documentation. Here are the 2025-2026 SBE Chapter Re-certification Guidelines.

New SBE Certification

If an SBE wishes to seek certification and hasn’t previously or a previously certified SBE is at the end of its re-certification cycle, the SBE must complete the full certification. Here are the 2025-2026 SBE Chapter Certification Guidelines.

A School-based Enterprise Gold Certification Sample Manual is available and encompasses both retail and food operations from various SBEs. This is meant to give advisors and SBE managers some examples using excerpts from previous SBE manuals that have earned gold certification.

SBE Academy + Competition

The 2026 SBE Competition Guidelines are now available. The competition topic for 2026 is selling. SBEs that earn gold chapter certification or gold re-certification through DECAs SBE Chapter Certification are eligible to send up to two members to participate in the SBE Academy + Competition during ICDC, pending approval from the chartered association advisor.