Bill mandates Head Start record checks

WASHINGTON -- Schools that receive grants from the Head Start program would be required to tap into federal databases to perform background checks on job seekers, under an amendment the House approved this week.

The amendment by Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., was made part of a bill to reauthorize the Head Start program.

The bill passed, 365-48.

Head Start provides education and health care assistance to low-income preschool children and their families.

Head Start regulations call for federal criminal record checks for all employees, but the amendment makes the policy federal law, Porter spokesman Matt Leffingwell said.

Nevada is among the states already requiring federal background checks by Head Start recipients, Leffingwell said.

During debate, Porter said one school did not perform background checks for Head Start personnel until 2005.

Administrators found that more than 100 of its 660 employees had been charged with criminal offenses including murder, manslaughter, domestic abuse, assault, child abuse and drunken driving.

Leffingwell later identified the school as one run by the Navajo Nation in Window Rock, Ariz.

"My language ensures that Head Start programs will have all the databases containing criminal records available to them to make sure that our parents can feel that their most precious resource, their children, will be safe in the Head Start program," Porter said.

Last year, Congress approved a Porter amendment granting kindergarten, elementary schools and high schools access to federal criminal databases.

The new amendment expands database access to pre-kindergarten schools.

"By demanding our Head Start facilities obtain criminal information records, we will ensure that all our schools have the most comprehensive information on those who interact with our children," Porter said in a statement.