Date: 2010-12-21
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise today on behalf of all children in our country. I rise for all parents who send their children to school with the understanding that their children will be safe. Last week. the Committee on Education and Labor released a disturbing. outrageous report from the Government Accountability Office highlighting cases where convicted sexual offenders were working at schools. In 11 of the 15 cases. sexual offenders who were hired or retained by schools had previously targeted children. and in six of those cases. the sex offenders used their job to target and abuse more children. and this is unacceptable. This report is frightening insight into what happens when rules arent followed or simply arent in place. It showed that in many cases comprehensive background checks could have easily prevented these crimes from occurring. It also showed that some school districts knowingly passed on a potential predator to another school district. allowing the offender to resign instead of reporting him or her. It is outrageous that a sexual or violent predator of children can be passed from school to school. The Government Accountability Office found that school systems either did not have complete information or. perhaps worse. chose to ignore the problem or to make it worse by providing positive recommendations about the employee. knowing that they had abused children in their care. In many places. the current system of ensuring our students safety is broken. It has huge gaps that are allowing our children to be vulnerable to sexual predators. Madam Speaker. this Congress can do more to protect our children. The Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act will help keep our children safe in school by requiring States to take commonsense steps. First. schools will be required to comprehensively conduct background checks for any employees using State criminal and child abuse registries and the FBIs fingerprint database. Second. schools will be prohibited from hiring or retaining anyone who has been convicted of certain violent crimes. including crimes against children. crimes involving rape or sexual assault. and child pornography. This bill will prevent more children from being put in unsafe environments because the adults who are responsible for their wellbeing failed to do their jobs. A 2004 Department of Education report estimated that millions of students are subjected to sexual misconduct by school employees at some time between kindergarten and the 12th grade. Coupled with the findings of last weeks GAO report. it is very clear that this legislation is absolutely critical. Parents have a right to believe that their children are safe in schools. and schools have an obligation to fulfill that promise. This bill is only part of the solution. but it is an important step forward. The GAO report sent shock waves through households across the country. We owe it to parents and to the children and to the honorable school officials who follow the rules to pass this legislation. We also owe it to them to send a strong message that people who abuse children or do not do their jobs to keep children safe will face serious consequences. I hope that the next Congress will be able to take an even more comprehensive approach to protect children in our schools. and I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.