Frequency of Criminal History Checks

Q: How often can we check the criminal history information on an employee?

A: As often as the district wants. Recent legislation, Senate Bill 9, removed the prior limit, which was twice a year. Now there is no limit on how often criminal history information can be obtained. Even better, this important task may get much easier for districts after January 1, 2008. That’s when a new national criminal history clearinghouse is scheduled to be up and running at the Department of Public Safety.

Under the program, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and districts would be able to review national criminal history records to determine a person’s suitability to work with children. The clearinghouse would be updated on a regular basis and districts would be notified whenever an employee in the database is convicted of a felony against a minor or student, or of an offense requiring registration as a sex offender. Certified employees should only have to be fingerprinted once.

While the Texas Legislature authorized the program, no funds were appropriated, leading to speculation that school districts would be required to pick up the cost of criminal history checks or pass that cost on to employees.

The latest news is that Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Tom Craddick have authorized TEA to cover the costs of conducting criminal history checks on certified educators.

Stay tuned. There’s likely to be more news on Senate Bill 9 implementation to come.