Fingerprints of personnel coming to Texas school districts

New policy good idea, poorly executed, superintendents say

By Philip Navarrette/reporter@trcle.com

Beginning this year, districts around the state will require fingerprinting for several types of employees, prompting mixed feelings within area school districts, administrators said.

The goal behind the new fingerprinting requirement is to make schools safer, according to information on Senate Bill 9 from the Texas Education Agency’s Web site.

“Senate Bill 9 authorizes and requires greatly expanded criminal history information reviews for most classes of educators and school employees, including national criminal history background checks based on the submission of fingerprints, for all certified and currently employed educators, as well as all substitute teachers, whether or not certified ... hired after Jan. 1, 2008,” according to the Web site.

The requirement means all employees who have student interaction must be fingerprinted, including teacher aides and cafeteria workers. For Cleburne ISD, that means fingerprinting new noncertified employees.

“I think it’s a good thing to check on employees and make sure they’re safe to employ,” Superintendent Robert Damron said. “We’ve been doing criminal checks for a long time, and we’re just now starting the finger-printing process Jan. 1.”

Still, the new law isn’t without its downside.

“The only drawback that I have with it is that the state mandated it and did not fund it. We have to either pass the cost onto the employee or pay for it ourselves. Of course, many of our employees are almost minimum-wage employees, so it will probably be a district cost for us to pay for the finger-printing,” Damron said.

With fingerprinting costing about $60 per employee, the cost to the district can be high, Damron said.

Alvarado ISD Superintendent Dr. Chester Juroska said he likes the thought behind the policy because it means safer schools but does not like that the state did not fund it.

“I get tired of unfunded mandates. That bothers us,” he said. “It’s wrong that these guys can stand up there in Austin and cry out to the world how great they are. Well I can do that too, if it’s not costing me anything. I’ve got all kinds of great ideas if money is no object, and I just pass those costs along to the people.”

Juroska said the policy would be a good program, but the state needs to pay the costs rather than pushing it onto already underpaid employees.

“What we have is going to be a very cumbersome and expensive system,” Joshua ISD Superintendent Ray Dane said. “The reason we’re doing it is great, but boy, it should have been thought through a lot more. It’s just a nightmare.”

If employees have to pay for the fingerprinting procedure, Dane said he’s concerned some will seek employment outside of the public school system, leaving districts without crucial employees.

Thankfully, Damron said, CISD won’t have to worry about new certified teachers.

“As they get their certification, for the last couple of years, teachers have had to have fingerprint checks,” he said. “So it’s been going on with teachers for a while.”

Eventually, the district will fingerprint all employees, regardless of hire date, Damron said. The state is supposed to pay for the fingerprinting of current employees, but Damron said he’s not received any word on when or how those costs will come to the district.

“But eventually we’ll get it all done,” he said.