Senate Judiciary committee hears bill requiring fingerprint checks for school license applicants and employees

A Senate Judiciary committee on Jan. 13 heard testimony on Senate Bill 246, which would require all applicants for teaching licenses and certain school-district employees to submit fingerprint-based state and national criminal history checks and would create a criminal history record check reimbursement fund administered by the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS).

Proponents said the bill is intended to close gaps in background checks for people who have regular access to students. "I believe the public would be stunned to know how many people may come in contact with their child in the educational process during a school day who have not been subject to mandatory fingerprint-based criminal history and background checks," Tony Mativi, director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, told the committee. He cited examples of recent convictions and arrests involving school employees to illustrate the risks he said the bill aims to address.

Natalie, the committee reviser, summarized the bill’s key provisions: applicants for teaching certificates would be fingerprinted and required to pay the fee for the record check unless a school district elects to pay; employees hired before July 1, 2025, must submit to a criminal history record check…