II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 856 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require 

criminal background checks for school employees. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 24, 2015 

Mr. ALEXANDER (for himself, Mr. KIRK, Mr. ROUNDS, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. 

ISAKSON, and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to require criminal 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 ‘‘Stop Sexual Abuse 

5 by School Personnel Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR SCHOOL EM7 PLOYEES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart 2 of part E of title IX 

9 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 


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1 (20 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 9537. CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR SCHOOL 

4 EMPLOYEES. 

5 ‘‘(a) CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK REQUIRE6 MENTS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State educational 

8 agency and local educational agency that receives 

9 funds under this Act shall have in effect policies and 

10 procedures that require a criminal background check 

11 for each school employee in each covered school 

12 served by such State educational agency and local 

13 educational agency. 

14 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—A background check re15 quired under paragraph (1) shall be conducted and 

16 administered by— 

17 ‘‘(A) the State; 

18 ‘‘(B) the State educational agency; or 

19 ‘‘(C) the local educational agency. 

20 ‘‘(b) STATE AND LOCAL USES OF FUNDS.—A State, 

21 State educational agency, or local educational agency that 

22 receives funds under this Act may use such funds to estab23 lish, implement, or improve policies and procedures on 

24 background checks for school employees required under 

25 subsection (a) to— 


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1 ‘‘(1) expand the registries or repositories 

2 searched when conducting background checks, such 

3 as— 

4 ‘‘(A) the State criminal registry or reposi5 tory of the State in which the school employee 

6 resides; 

7 ‘‘(B) the State-based child abuse and ne8 glect registries and databases of the State in 

9 which the school employee resides; 

10 ‘‘(C) the Federal Bureau of Investigation 

11 fingerprint check using the Integrated Auto12 mated Fingerprint Identification System; and 

13 ‘‘(D) the National Sex Offender Registry 

14 established under section 119 of the Adam 

15 Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 

16 (42 U.S.C. 16919); 

17 ‘‘(2) provide school employees with training and 

18 professional development on how to recognize, re19 spond to, and prevent child abuse; 

20 ‘‘(3) develop, implement, or improve mecha21 nisms to assist covered local educational agencies 

22 and covered schools in effectively recognizing and 

23 quickly responding to incidents of child abuse by 

24 school employees; 


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1 ‘‘(4) develop and disseminate information on 

2 best practices and Federal, State, and local re3 sources available to assist local educational agencies 

4 and schools in preventing and responding to inci5 dents of child abuse by school employees; 

6 ‘‘(5) develop professional standards and codes 

7 of conduct for the appropriate behavior of school 

8 employees; 

9 ‘‘(6) establish, implement, or improve policies 

10 and procedures for covered State educational agen11 cies, covered local educational agencies, or covered 

12 schools to provide the results of background checks 

13 to— 

14 ‘‘(A) individuals subject to the background 

15 checks in a statement that indicates whether 

16 the individual is ineligible for such employment 

17 due to the background check and includes infor18 mation related to each disqualifying crime; 

19 ‘‘(B) the employer in a statement that in20 dicates whether a school employee is eligible or 

21 ineligible for employment, without revealing any 

22 disqualifying crime or other related information 

23 regarding the individual; 

24 ‘‘(C) another employer in the same State 

25 or another State, as permitted under State law, 


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1 without revealing any disqualifying crime or 

2 other related information regarding the indi3 vidual; and 

4 ‘‘(D) another local educational agency in 

5 the same State or another State that is consid6 ering such school employee for employment, as 

7 permitted under State law, without revealing 

8 any disqualifying crime or other related infor9 mation regarding the individual; 

10 ‘‘(7) establish, implement, or improve proce11 dures that include periodic background checks, 

12 which also allows for an appeals process as described 

13 in paragraph (8), for school employees in accordance 

14 with State policies or the policies of covered local 

15 educational agencies served by the covered State 

16 educational agency; 

17 ‘‘(8) establish, implement, or improve a process 

18 by which a school employee may appeal the results 

19 of a background check, which process is completed 

20 in a timely manner, gives each school employee no21 tice of an opportunity to appeal, and instructions on 

22 how to complete the appeals process; 

23 ‘‘(9) establish, implement, or improve a review 

24 process through which the covered State educational 

25 agency or covered local educational agency may deVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Mar 31, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S856.IS S856

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1 termine that a school employee disqualified due to a 

2 crime is eligible for employment due to mitigating 

3 circumstances as determined by a covered local edu4 cational agency or a covered State educational agen5 cy; 

6 ‘‘(10) establish, implement, or improve policies 

7 and procedures intended to ensure a covered State 

8 educational agency or covered local educational 

9 agency does not knowingly transfer or facilitate the 

10 transfer of a school employee if the agency knows 

11 that employee has engaged in sexual misconduct, as 

12 defined by State law, with an elementary school or 

13 secondary school student; 

14 ‘‘(11) provide that policies and procedures are 

15 published on the website of the covered State edu16 cational agency and the website of each covered local 

17 educational agency served by the covered State edu18 cational agency; 

19 ‘‘(12) provide school employees with training re20 garding the appropriate reporting of incidents of 

21 child abuse under section 106(b)(2)(B)(i) of the 

22 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 

23 U.S.C. 5106a(b)(2)(B)(i)); and 

24 ‘‘(13) support any other activities determined 

25 by the State to protect student safety or improve the 


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1 comprehensiveness, coordination, and transparency 

2 of policies and procedures on criminal background 

3 checks for school employees in the State. 

4 ‘‘(c) NO PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—Nothing in 

5 this section shall be construed to create a private right 

6 of action if a State, covered State educational agency, cov7 ered local educational agency, or covered school is in com8 pliance with State regulations and requirements con9 cerning background checks. 

10 ‘‘(d) BACKGROUND CHECK FEES.—Nothing in this 

11 section shall be construed as prohibiting States or local 

12 educational agencies from charging school employees for 

13 the costs of processing applications and administering a 

14 background check as required by State law, provided that 

15 the fees charged to school employees do not exceed the 

16 actual costs to the State or local educational agency for 

17 the processing and administration of the background 

18 check. 

19 ‘‘(e) STATE AND LOCAL PLAN REQUIREMENTS.— 

20 Each plan submitted by a State or local educational agen21 cy under title I shall include— 

22 ‘‘(1) an assurance that the State and local edu23 cational agency has in effect policies and procedures 

24 that meet the requirements of this section; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) a description of laws, regulations, or poli2 cies and procedures in effect in the State for con3 ducting background checks for school employees de4 signed to— 

5 ‘‘(A) terminate individuals in violation of 

6 State background check requirements; 

7 ‘‘(B) improve the reporting of violations of 

8 the background check requirements in the 

9 State; 

10 ‘‘(C) reduce the instance of school em11 ployee transfers following a substantiated viola12 tion of the State background check require13 ments by a school employee; 

14 ‘‘(D) provide for a timely process by which 

15 a school employee may appeal the results of a 

16 criminal background check; 

17 ‘‘(E) provide each school employee, upon 

18 request, with a copy of the results of the crimi19 nal background check, including a description 

20 of the disqualifying item or items, if applicable; 

21 ‘‘(F) provide the results of the criminal 

22 background check to the employer in a state23 ment that indicates whether a school employee 

24 is eligible or ineligible for employment, without 


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1 revealing any disqualifying crime or other re2 lated information regarding the individual; and 

3 ‘‘(G) provide for the public availability of 

4 the policies and procedures for conducting back5 ground checks. 

6 ‘‘(f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO STATES, SCHOOL

7 DISTRICTS, AND SCHOOLS.—The Secretary, in collabora8 tion with the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

9 and the Attorney General, shall provide technical assist10 ance and support to States, local educational agencies, and 

11 schools, which shall include, at a minimum— 

12 ‘‘(1) developing and disseminating a com13 prehensive package of materials for States, State 

14 educational agencies, local educational agencies, and 

15 schools that outlines steps that can be taken to pre16 vent and respond to child sexual abuse by school 

17 personnel; 

18 ‘‘(2) determining the most cost-effective way to 

19 disseminate Federal information so that relevant 

20 State educational agencies and local educational 

21 agencies, child welfare agencies, and criminal justice 

22 entities are aware of such information and have ac23 cess to it; and 

24 ‘‘(3) identifying mechanisms to better track and 

25 analyze the prevalence of child sexual abuse by 


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1 school personnel through existing Federal data col2 lection systems, such as the School Survey on Crime 

3 and Safety, the National Child Abuse and Neglect 

4 Data System, and the National Crime Victimization 

5 Survey. 

6 ‘‘(g) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) REPORTS TO THE SECRETARY.—A covered 

8 State educational agency or covered local educational 

9 agency that uses funds pursuant to this section shall 

10 report annually to the Secretary on— 

11 ‘‘(A) the amount of funds used; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the purpose for which the funds were 

13 used under this section. 

14 ‘‘(2) SECRETARY’S REPORT CARD.—Not later 

15 than July 1, 2017, and annually thereafter, the Sec16 retary, acting through the Director of the Institute 

17 of Education Sciences, shall transmit to the Com18 mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

19 of the Senate and the Committee on Education and 

20 the Workforce of the House of Representatives a na21 tional report card that includes— 

22 ‘‘(A) actions taken pursuant to subsection 

23 (f), including any best practices identified under 

24 such subsection; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) incidents of reported child sexual 

2 abuse by school personnel, as reported through 

3 existing Federal data collection systems, such 

4 as the School Survey on Crime and Safety, the 

5 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data Sys6 tem, and the National Crime Victimization Sur7 vey. 

8 ‘‘(h) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION REGARDING BACK9 GROUND CHECKS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) NO FEDERAL CONTROL.—Nothing in this 

11 section shall be construed to authorize an officer or 

12 employee of the Federal Government to— 

13 ‘‘(A) mandate, direct, or control the back14 ground check policies or procedures that a 

15 State or local educational agency develops or 

16 implements under this section; 

17 ‘‘(B) establish any criterion that specifies, 

18 defines, or prescribes the background check 

19 policies or procedures that a State or local edu20 cational agency develops or implements under 

21 this section; or 

22 ‘‘(C) require a State or local educational 

23 agency to submit such background check poli24 cies or procedures for approval. 


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1 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON REGULATION.—Nothing 

2 in this section shall be construed to permit the Sec3 retary to establish any criterion that— 

4 ‘‘(A) prescribes, or specifies requirements 

5 regarding, background checks for school em6 ployees; 

7 ‘‘(B) defines the term ‘background checks’, 

8 as such term is used in this section; or 

9 ‘‘(C) requires a State or local educational 

10 agency to report additional data elements or in11 formation to the Secretary not otherwise explic12 itly authorized under this section or any other 

13 Federal law. 

14 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

15 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered local educational agency’ 

16 means a local educational agency that receives funds 

17 under this Act; 

18 ‘‘(2) the term ‘covered school’ means a public 

19 elementary school or public secondary school, includ20 ing a public elementary or secondary charter school, 

21 that receives funds under this Act; 

22 ‘‘(3) the term ‘covered State educational agen23 cy’ means a State educational agency that receives 

24 funds under this Act; and 


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1 ‘‘(4) the term ‘school employee’ includes, at a 

2 minimum— 

3 ‘‘(A) an employee of, or a person seeking 

4 employment with, a covered school, covered 

5 local educational agency, or covered State edu6 cational agency and who, as a result of such 

7 employment, has (or, in the case of a person 

8 seeking employment, will have) a job duty that 

9 includes unsupervised contact or interaction 

10 with elementary school or secondary school stu11 dents; or 

12 ‘‘(B) any person, or any employee of any 

13 person, who has a contract or agreement to 

14 provide services with a covered school, covered 

15 local educational agency, or covered State edu16 cational agency, and such person or employee, 

17 as a result of such contract or agreement, has 

18 a job duty that includes unsupervised contact or 

19 unsupervised interaction with elementary school 

20 or secondary school students.’’. 

21 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

22 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

23 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

24 to section 9536 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 9537. Criminal background checks for school employees.’’. 

Æ 


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