Bill > HR4666

This bill, titled the Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act, mandates that any state or local educational agency (LEA) receiving funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 must implement policies requiring criminal background checks for all school employees. These checks must include searches of state criminal registries, child abuse and neglect registries, federal fingerprint databases (FBI), and the National Sex Offender Registry. The bill prohibits the employment of individuals who refuse a background check, provide false information, or have been convicted of serious crimes such as murder, child abuse, sexual assault, spousal abuse, kidnapping, arson, or certain violent or drug-related offenses. Background checks must be periodically repeated or updated, and employees are entitled to a timely process to appeal the results if they believe the information is inaccurate or incomplete. Furthermore, these policies and procedures must be publicly available on state and LEA websites, and LEAs are permitted to share recent background check results with other LEAs considering an individual for employment. The bill also allows for reasonable fees for these background checks, which can be paid for using administrative funds from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.