Tennessee is one of only 11 states that requires teachers to have a background check before being hired. That 39 states do not have such a requirement is incredible.
But the Volunteer State’s system is not enough, investigations by the USA Today Network and the Nashville Tennessean show, because the local districts that conduct them aren’t always thorough, personnel records with such information aren’t always kept and information isn’t passed from state to state.
For those reasons and others, U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, has proposed federal legislation that would require every teacher in the country being hired in a district receiving federal funds – essentially, all of them – to undergo a criminal background check to be hired. The bill also says teachers would need to be rechecked “periodically.”
The legislation would include searches of state criminal and child abuse registries, an FBI fingerprint check and a search of the National Sex Offender Registry.
We believe this is a minimum of what should be required across the country to prevent discredited teachers from moving from one district to another with no consequences.