This bill strengthens the duties of school entities and the Department of Education in vetting applicants for school jobs and in investigating school employees who have allegedly committed misconduct and effectively sharing relevant information to protect students and other school employees. Specifically, the bill does the following.
1. It requires applicants to disclose any current or previous investigation by any employer, state licensing agency, law enforcement agency or department of health and human services regarding conduct involving alcohol, illegal drugs, physical abuse, emotional abuse, inappropriate contact between the applicant and a student, stalking, harassment, sexual assault, sexual exploitation of a minor or similar behavior that endangers the health, safety or welfare of a student or another employee, even if the investigation resulted in a finding that the allegations were false or not substantiated.
2. It requires schools to verify employment histories provided by an applicant with the applicant's current and former employers and requires schools to provide that information within 90 days.
3. It requires schools to notify the department if an employee who is being investigated leaves employment before the investigation is completed.
4. It requires schools to ask the department about any current or previous investigations.
5. It clarifies that upon learning of alleged misconduct by an employee, the school must begin an investigation; no formal complaint is necessary.
6. It specifies that once a school begins an investigation, it must complete the investigation.
7. It specifies that a school must notify the department immediately if an employee is disciplined, suspended or terminated because of a covered investigation in which the school determined that a student's health, safety or welfare was endangered.
8. It directs the department to summarize and report to the joint standing committees of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education matters and judiciary matters changes in requests from schools for information regarding misconduct investigations. The department must compare data from at least 2 years prior to the effective date of this legislation with data from at least one year after the effective date of the legislation.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 2192, SP 893: 20-A.6101, 20-A.13004, 20-A.13025