Thursday, September 15, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Nevada legislators add to sex offender bill
By SAMANTHA YOUNG
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- When schools in Nevada recruit teachers, they fingerprint applicants for criminal background checks.
But the results that school managers get back are often incomplete because only law enforcement agencies have privileges to examine federal and state crime databases, education officials said.
House lawmakers Wednesday took a step to broaden school access to information on convicts, who otherwise are sheltered by privacy laws.
Lawmakers also authorized a study of a new Nevada law that aims to track sex offender registrations through driver's licenses.
The issues were addressed in amendments sponsored by Reps. Jon Porter and Jim Gibbons, both R-Nev. They were added to a bill whose aim is to strengthen sex offender laws.
To scrutinize teachers, coaches and other school officials, Nevada schools go through the Nevada Department of Public Safety to get background checks on potential new hires.
Last year, the state forwarded 8,069 background checks to the FBI on behalf of Clark County and another 2,272 background checks for schools elsewhere in the state, said Kim Evans, Public Safety Department spokeswoman.
Schools are told only whether the applicant has a criminal record, Evans said. School officials want to see more.
"Whenever you hire anyone whose going to have access to children, you need to know what their criminal history is," said Dr. George Ann Rice, associate superintendent for human resources at the Clark County School District.
The Porter amendment would permit schools to go through the governor or the state school superintendent to gain access to background checks from the FBI and 27 states that do not share such information for privacy reasons.
To encourage states to change their laws, Porter had recommended withholding federal education money from states that refuse to hand over criminal records.
Instead, Porter's new legislation authorizes -- but does not require -- the Department of Justice to check state criminal records on behalf of schools. The FBI has access to state records.
