COMMUNITY COMMENTARY: Keep sex offenders out of California classrooms

There is a weak point in the California educational system when it comes to tracking the criminal past of a candidate who wants to become a teacher. The system in use is designed and charged with the evaluation and issuance of teaching credentials, certificates and permits for public school teachers. It is designed and intended to ensure the hiring of the highest quality teachers for our children.

There is a huge flaw, though. There is no nationwide fingerprint clearance obtained of the applicant when the applicant seeks to renew his or her teaching credential.

The California Education Code requires that for people seeking their first California teaching credential (issued by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing), the commission must receive fingerprint clearance from the California Department of Justice and the FBI.

When an applicant attempts to renew his or her credential five years later, only a statewide clearance is required. That presents a big problem if the teacher has been outside of California for some period of time.

So what happens when a California teacher moves to or simply visits another state and is convicted of a crime? Later, when that individual attempts to renew his or her credential in California, the out-of-state conviction might never be identified because the commission doesn’t check with the FBI before issuing the renewal. It only checks for California violations.

Setting the highest standards for the quality of teachers and staff who interact with our children in our state’s schools should be our utmost priority. Parents should be able to trust that schools, school districts and the state are doing everything humanly possible to ensure that we employ only the finest individuals.

For this reason, I have introduced Senate bill 882, which requires that before renewing an applicant’s California teaching credential, the commission must obtain both a statewide fingerprint clearance and a nationwide clearance through the FBI.

In recent years, there have been an alarming number of reports of sexual abuse of students by school teachers. A more disturbing trend is that in some instances these teachers have a history of prior sexual abuse of children. What’s more, many of these offenders relocate because they know that there is a benefit to getting away from where they have been convicted of a crime.

By creating a sizable roadblock for potential child molesters, Senate bill 882 helps protect our children by ensuring that California knows exactly who is teaching in our schools.

I think this idea deserves an A-plus!