II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 474 

To require State educational agencies that receive funding under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to have in effect policies 

and procedures on background checks for school employees. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2015 

Mr. TOOMEY (for himself, Mr. MANCHIN, and Mrs. CAPITO) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To require State educational agencies that receive funding 

under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

1965 to have in effect policies and procedures on background checks for school employees. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Students 

5 from Sexual and Violent Predators Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BACKGROUND CHECKS. 

7 (a) BACKGROUND CHECKS.—Not later than 2 years 

8 after the date of enactment of this Act, each State eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Feb 23, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S474.IS S474

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1 cational agency that receives funds under the Elementary 

2 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 

3 et seq.) shall have in effect policies and procedures that— 

4 (1) require that a criminal background check be 

5 conducted for each school employee that includes— 

6 (A) a search of the State criminal registry 

7 or repository of the State in which the school 

8 employee resides; 

9 (B) a search of State-based child abuse 

10 and neglect registries and databases of the 

11 State in which the school employee resides; 

12 (C) a Federal Bureau of Investigation fin13 gerprint check using the Integrated Automated 

14 Fingerprint Identification System; and 

15 (D) a search of the National Sex Offender 

16 Registry established under section 119 of the 

17 Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 

18 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16919); 

19 (2) prohibit the employment of a school em20 ployee as a school employee if such employee— 

21 (A) refuses to consent to a criminal back22 ground check under paragraph (1); 

23 (B) makes a false statement in connection 

24 with such criminal background check; 


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1 (C) has been convicted of a felony con2 sisting of— 

3 (i) homicide; 

4 (ii) child abuse or neglect; 

5 (iii) a crime against children, includ6 ing child pornography; 

7 (iv) spousal abuse; 

8 (v) a crime involving rape or sexual 

9 assault; 

10 (vi) kidnapping; 

11 (vii) arson; or 

12 (viii) physical assault, battery, or a 

13 drug-related offense, committed on or after 

14 the date that is 5 years before the date of 

15 such employee’s criminal background check 

16 under paragraph (1); or 

17 (D) has been convicted of any other crime 

18 that is a violent or sexual crime against a 

19 minor; 

20 (3) require that each criminal background 

21 check conducted under paragraph (1) be periodically 

22 repeated or updated in accordance with State law or 

23 the policies of local educational agencies served by 

24 the State educational agency; 


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1 (4) upon request, provide each school employee 

2 who has had a criminal background check under 

3 paragraph (1) with a copy of the results of the 

4 criminal background check; 

5 (5) provide for a timely process, by which a 

6 school employee may appeal, but which does not per7 mit the employee to be employed as a school em8 ployee during such appeal, the results of a criminal 

9 background check conducted under paragraph (1) 

10 which prohibit the employee from being employed as 

11 a school employee under paragraph (2) to— 

12 (A) challenge the accuracy or completeness 

13 of the information produced by such criminal 

14 background check; and 

15 (B) establish or reestablish eligibility to be 

16 hired or reinstated as a school employee by 

17 demonstrating that the information is materi18 ally inaccurate or incomplete, and has been cor19 rected; 

20 (6) ensure that such policies and procedures are 

21 published on the website of the State educational 

22 agency and the website of each local educational 

23 agency served by the State educational agency; and 

24 (7) allow a local educational agency to share 

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1 ground check recently conducted under paragraph 

2 (1) with another local educational agency that is 

3 considering such school employee for employment as 

4 a school employee. 

5 (b) TRANSFER PROHIBITION.—A local educational 

6 agency or State educational agency that receives funds 

7 under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

8 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) may not knowingly transfer 

9 or facilitate the transfer of any school employee if the 

10 agency knows, or has substantive reason to believe, that 

11 such employee engaged in sexual misconduct with an ele12 mentary school or secondary school student. 

13 (c) FEES FOR BACKGROUND CHECKS.— 

14 (1) CHARGING OF FEES.—The Attorney Gen15 eral, attorney general of a State, or other State law 

16 enforcement official may charge reasonable fees for 

17 conducting a criminal background check under sub18 section (a)(1). 

19 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS.—A local edu20 cational agency or State educational agency may use 

21 administrative funds received under the Elementary 

22 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

23 6301 et seq.) to pay any reasonable fees charged for 

24 conducting such criminal background check. 

25 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘‘elementary 

2 school’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, ‘‘local educational agen3 cy’’, ‘‘State’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have 

4 the meanings given the terms in section 9101 of the 

5 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

6 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

7 (2) SCHOOL EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘school em8 ployee’’ means— 

9 (A) a person who— 

10 (i) is an employee of, or is seeking 

11 employment with, a local educational agen12 cy, or State educational agency, that re13 ceives Federal funds under the Elementary 

14 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

15 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.); and 

16 (ii) as a result of such employment, 

17 has (or will have) a job duty that results 

18 in unsupervised access to elementary 

19 school or secondary school students; or 

20 (B)(i) any person, or an employee of any 

21 person, who has a contract or agreement to 

22 provide services with an elementary school, sec23 ondary school, local educational agency, or 

24 State educational agency, that receives Federal 

25 funds under the Elementary and Secondary 


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1 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et 

2 seq.); and 

3 (ii) such person or employee, as a result of 

4 such contract or agreement, has a job duty that 

5 results in unsupervised access to elementary 

6 school or secondary school students. 

Æ 


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