Relating to education by modifying provisions related to a process for investigating complaints against school employees and the responsibilities of the department of education and the board of educational examiners

This bill relates to education by modifying provisions related to a process for investigating complaints against school employees and the responsibilities of the department of education (DE) and the board of educational examiners (BOEE). Current law requires the director of DE to develop and implement a process for the reporting and investigation of any incident that arises that may reasonably lead to the conclusion that any individual who is employed by the board of directors of a school district, the authorities in charge of an accredited nonpublic school, or the governing board of a charter school has committed a felony or, in the case of an individual with a license, endorsement, certification, authorization, or statement of recognition issued by the BOEE, has engaged in other prohibited conduct. Current law also establishes required elements of this process, including prohibiting schools from entering into certain agreements, requiring schools to provide documentation related to certain incidents to the BOEE, requiring schools to conduct a review of an applicant’s employment history and public license information, requiring schools to maintain reference information related to employees and respond to requests for such information from potential employers, establishing immunities for disclosure of certain information by schools, and establishing enforcement mechanisms. The bill transfers all of the authority related to developing and implementing this process from DE to the BOEE. The bill requires that the BOEE include in its annual report to the general assembly information related to the number of BOEE investigations of school employees who do not hold a license, endorsement, certification, authorization, or statement of recognition that the BOEE referred to a law enforcement agency. The bill establishes that the BOEE’s annual report shall not include any personally identifiable information related to investigations referred to a law enforcement agency.