| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to background screening of school |
| 3 | volunteers; amending s. 1002.421, F.S.; providing |
| 4 | background screening requirements for school and after- |
| 5 | school program volunteers with direct student contact at |
| 6 | private schools participating in scholarship programs; |
| 7 | creating s. 1012.466, F.S.; providing background screening |
| 8 | requirements for school and after-school program |
| 9 | volunteers with direct student contact at public schools; |
| 10 | providing an effective date. |
| 11 |
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| 12 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 13 |
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| 14 | Section 1. Paragraphs (e) and (i) of subsection (2) and |
| 15 | subsection (3) of section 1002.421, Florida Statutes, are |
| 16 | amended to read: |
| 17 | 1002.421 Accountability of private schools participating |
| 18 | in state school choice scholarship programs.-- |
| 19 | (2) A private school participating in a scholarship |
| 20 | program must be a Florida private school as defined in s. |
| 21 | 1002.01(2), must be registered in accordance with s. 1002.42, |
| 22 | and must: |
| 23 | (e) Annually complete and submit to the department a |
| 24 | notarized scholarship compliance statement certifying that all |
| 25 | school employees, and contracted personnel, and school and |
| 26 | after-school program volunteers with direct student contact have |
| 27 | undergone background screening pursuant to s. 943.0542. |
| 28 | (i) Require each employee, and contracted personnel, and |
| 29 | school and after-school program volunteer with direct student |
| 30 | contact, upon employment or engagement to provide services, to |
| 31 | undergo a state and national background screening, pursuant to |
| 32 | s. 943.0542, by electronically filing with the Department of Law |
| 33 | Enforcement a complete set of fingerprints taken by an |
| 34 | authorized law enforcement agency or an employee of the private |
| 35 | school, a school district, or a private company who is trained |
| 36 | to take fingerprints and deny employment or engagement to or |
| 37 | terminate an employee, contracted personnel, or school or after- |
| 38 | school program volunteer if he or she fails to meet the |
| 39 | screening standards under s. 435.04. Results of the screening |
| 40 | shall be provided to the participating private school. For |
| 41 | purposes of this paragraph: |
| 42 | 1. An "employee, or contracted personnel, or school or |
| 43 | after-school program volunteer with direct student contact" |
| 44 | means any employee, or contracted personnel, or school or after- |
| 45 | school volunteer who has unsupervised access to a scholarship |
| 46 | student for whom the private school is responsible. |
| 47 | 2. The costs of fingerprinting and the background check |
| 48 | shall not be borne by the state. |
| 49 | 3. Continued employment or engagement to provide services |
| 50 | of an employee, or contracted personnel, or school or after- |
| 51 | school program volunteer after notification that he or she has |
| 52 | failed the background screening under this paragraph shall cause |
| 53 | a private school to be ineligible for participation in a |
| 54 | scholarship program. |
| 55 | 4. An employee, or contracted personnel, or school or |
| 56 | after-school program volunteer holding a valid Florida teaching |
| 57 | certificate who has been fingerprinted pursuant to s. 1012.32 is |
| 58 | not required to comply with the provisions of this paragraph. |
| 59 | (3)(a) Beginning July 1, 2007, all fingerprints submitted |
| 60 | to the Department of Law Enforcement as required by this section |
| 61 | shall be retained by the Department of Law Enforcement in a |
| 62 | manner provided by rule and entered in the statewide automated |
| 63 | fingerprint identification system authorized by s. 943.05(2)(b). |
| 64 | Such fingerprints shall thereafter be available for all purposes |
| 65 | and uses authorized for arrest fingerprint cards entered in the |
| 66 | statewide automated fingerprint identification system pursuant |
| 67 | to s. 943.051. |
| 68 | (b) Beginning July 1, 2007, the Department of Law |
| 69 | Enforcement shall search all arrest fingerprint cards received |
| 70 | under s. 943.051 against the fingerprints retained in the |
| 71 | statewide automated fingerprint identification system under |
| 72 | paragraph (a). Any arrest record that is identified with the |
| 73 | retained fingerprints of a person subject to the background |
| 74 | screening under this section shall be reported to the employing |
| 75 | or engaging school with which the person is affiliated. Each |
| 76 | private school participating in a scholarship program is |
| 77 | required to participate in this search process by informing the |
| 78 | Department of Law Enforcement of any change in the employment, |
| 79 | or contractual, or engagement to provide services status of its |
| 80 | personnel whose fingerprints are retained under paragraph (a). |
| 81 | The Department of Law Enforcement shall adopt a rule setting the |
| 82 | amount of the annual fee to be imposed upon each private school |
| 83 | for performing these searches and establishing the procedures |
| 84 | for the retention of private school employee, and contracted |
| 85 | personnel, and school and after-school program volunteer |
| 86 | fingerprints and the dissemination of search results. The fee |
| 87 | may be borne by the private school or the person fingerprinted. |
| 88 | (c) Employees, and contracted personnel, and school and |
| 89 | after-school program volunteers whose fingerprints are not |
| 90 | retained by the Department of Law Enforcement under paragraphs |
| 91 | (a) and (b) are required to be refingerprinted and must meet |
| 92 | state and national background screening requirements upon |
| 93 | reemployment or reengagement to provide services in order to |
| 94 | comply with the requirements of this section. |
| 95 | (d) Every 5 years following employment or engagement to |
| 96 | provide services with a private school, employees, or contracted |
| 97 | personnel, or school or after-school program volunteers required |
| 98 | to be screened under this section must meet screening standards |
| 99 | under s. 435.04, at which time the private school shall request |
| 100 | the Department of Law Enforcement to forward the fingerprints to |
| 101 | the Federal Bureau of Investigation for national processing. If |
| 102 | the fingerprints of employees, or contracted personnel, or |
| 103 | school or after-school program volunteers are not retained by |
| 104 | the Department of Law Enforcement under paragraph (a), |
| 105 | employees, and contracted personnel, and school and after-school |
| 106 | program volunteers must electronically file a complete set of |
| 107 | fingerprints with the Department of Law Enforcement. Upon |
| 108 | submission of fingerprints for this purpose, the private school |
| 109 | shall request that the Department of Law Enforcement forward the |
| 110 | fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for national |
| 111 | processing, and the fingerprints shall be retained by the |
| 112 | Department of Law Enforcement under paragraph (a). |
| 113 | Section 2. Section 1012.466, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 114 | to read: |
| 115 | 1012.466 Background screening requirements for school and |
| 116 | after-school program volunteers.-- |
| 117 | (1) Each school and after-school program volunteer who has |
| 118 | direct contact with students must meet level 2 screening |
| 119 | requirements as described in s. 1012.32. |
| 120 | (2) Every 5 years following engagement to provide services |
| 121 | in a capacity described in subsection (1), each person who is so |
| 122 | engaged with a school must meet level 2 screening requirements |
| 123 | as described in s. 1012.32, at which time the school shall |
| 124 | request the Department of Law Enforcement to forward the |
| 125 | fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the |
| 126 | level 2 screening. If, for any reason following engagement to |
| 127 | provide services in a capacity described in subsection (1), the |
| 128 | fingerprints of a person who is so engaged are not retained by |
| 129 | the Department of Law Enforcement under s. 1012.32(3)(a) and |
| 130 | (b), the person must file a complete set of fingerprints with |
| 131 | the district school superintendent. Upon submission of |
| 132 | fingerprints for this purpose, the school district shall request |
| 133 | the Department of Law Enforcement to forward the fingerprints to |
| 134 | the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the level 2 screening, |
| 135 | and the fingerprints shall be retained by the Department of Law |
| 136 | Enforcement under s. 1012.32(3)(a) and (b). The cost of the |
| 137 | state and federal criminal history check required by level 2 |
| 138 | screening may be borne by the district school board, the school, |
| 139 | or the person fingerprinted. Under penalty of perjury, each |
| 140 | person who is engaged to provide services in a capacity |
| 141 | described in subsection (1) must agree to inform the school |
| 142 | within 48 hours if convicted of any disqualifying offense while |
| 143 | he or she is engaged in that capacity. |
| 144 | (3) If it is found that a person who is engaged to provide |
| 145 | services in a capacity described in subsection (1) does not meet |
| 146 | the level 2 requirements, the person shall be immediately |
| 147 | suspended from working in that capacity and shall remain |
| 148 | suspended until final resolution of any appeals. |
| 149 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |