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 every five years beginning July 1, 2025, and employees hired after that date must submit every five years from their hire date; the bill creates a KDADS-administered reimbursement fund to transfer amounts the department pays for criminal history checks minus receipts; and the bill modifies reporting requirements in KSA 72-21-65 so that persons convicted of specified offenses must report to the State Board of Education within 30 days (failure to report is a class B nonperson misdemeanor).

KDADS representative Lacey Hunter said the agency needs explicit statutory authority to run criminal history checks for various license types and facility staff and to participate in interstate licensure compacts (for example, dietitians and speech-language pathologists). "KDADS needs authority outlined in Senate Bill 246 to participate in both interstate licensure compacts as well as to address FBI audit findings," Hunter said.

On funding and cost, committee members noted the fiscal note and asked who ultimately bears the fee. The chair referenced the Division of the Budget fiscal note, which lists a $57 per-check fee that "includes the application fee, fingerprint background check fee, and the cost for wrap back through the KBI." Nicole Maddox, KBI information services division director, confirmed $57 as the current fee covering FBI processing and KBI processing and said KBI would provide state-level data on school-related charges if the committee requests it.

The KBI director also described technical features the bill accommodates: a federal "wrap-back" continuous monitoring system that would allow agencies to opt into ongoing notifications rather than require re-fingerprinting every five years, and "purpose code X," a federal protocol permitting name-based checks under exigent circumstances that must be followed by fingerprint checks within 14 days.

Committee members pressed several implementation questions. Senator Bowser asked whether substitute teachers or college student interns would be covered; the reviser said coverage depends on statutory definitions and whether substitutes or interns hold a license or temporary certificate. Senator Argerbrite raised concerns about rural districts' ability to rapidly onboard staff when boards meet infrequently; KBI said their current promise is a 7–10 business-day turnaround and their average processing time was about nine hours, which the agency said should mitigate delay concerns.

A proposed KBI amendment in the committee packet would expand the definition of "employee" to include independent contractors so that third-party contractors such as janitors or bus drivers would be covered; the reviser advised members to review the amendment language before acting. The chair also noted a separate pending bill that would prohibit certain people on offender registries from being on school property.

Ed Klump, legislative liaison for the Kansas Sheriffs Association and the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, testified in a neutral capacity and urged restoring statutory language allowing local law enforcement agencies to charge a reasonable reimbursement for the actual cost of taking fingerprints (local costs vary, he said, with some jurisdictions charging up to $10 and others charging nothing for residents).

The committee closed the hearing on Senate Bill 246 without a vote and postponed the next bill (Senate Bill 248) to a later date. The committee left a record that several follow-ups were requested: KBI will provide state-level statistics on school-related charges and convictions if available, and members were encouraged to review the KBI amendment language in the packet.

Next steps: the committee has no recorded vote on SB 246 from this hearing; additional testimony and possible amendments remain a likely part of the bill’s consideration schedule.