Subcommittee on 21^st Century Competitiveness
Hearing on
"H.R. 2649, the Schools Safely Acquiring Faculty Excellence Act of 2003"

September 28, 2004

Good Morning. Thank you, Chairman McKeon, for holding this important 21^st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee hearing, and thank you all for joining us as we discuss this important topic. I would also like to thank our distinguished panel of witnesses, who will be introduced shortly.

Students, parents, teachers and taxpayers have made great strides in the past four years in bringing better educational services to our elementary and secondary school children. While we continue to see the product of these efforts, there are still several aspects that remain problematic. Chief among these is the safety of children in our schools. The dangers that threaten our children are widespread, from the threat of terrorism to the presence of sexual predators in the classrooms and hallways of our campuses. We are here today to explore ways to prevent this last type of abuse.

In May, this Subcommittee held a field hearing in my home district of Clark County, Nevada, where we heard about the issues that currently face fast-growing school districts as they attempt to hire large numbers of highly-qualified, reliable individuals to fill the important positions that allow our children to succeed. Many school districts around the nation rely on out-of-State recruitment of teachers in order to meet the needs of their growing communities. In order to ensure students’ safety, many school districts require potential hires to be fingerprinted for background checks through the FBI. However, current practice often results in incomplete data for non-criminal purposes.

The Clark County School District, the school district that I represent, is constantly faced with these issues. As the district grows by an average of 15,000 students per year, we need to hire an average of 2,000 new teachers. The majority of these teachers come from outside of the state. We depend upon other states to share with us any information that will help remove the threat of sexual predators in our classrooms. As recently as this summer, charges of sexual abuse by individuals employed by the school district became public. There must be zero tolerance for this type of behavior. I believe that Congress has the ability to make significant strides in reducing the occurrence of sexual assault in our schools. While I see no reason to oppose the intent of my legislation, I am aware of some of the flaws in the mechanism that it uses. I look forward to working on this legislation with all stake holders so that we can effectively make strides in improving this situation.

The National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact, signed into law October 10, 1998, established an infrastructure by which States can exchange criminal records for non-criminal justice purposes. The Compact organizes an electronic information sharing system among the federal government and the States to exchange criminal history records for non-criminal justice purposes, such as background checks for governmental licensing and employment. Under the Compact, the FBI and the member States agree to maintain detailed databases of their respective criminal history records and to make them available to the federal government and to member States for authorized purposes.

The Compact requires the FBI to permit use of the national identification index and the national fingerprint file by each member State and to provide, in a timely fashion, federal and State criminal history records to requesting member States. It also requires member States to provide information and records for the national identification index and the national fingerprint file and to provide criminal history records, in a timely fashion, to criminal history record repositories of other member States and the federal government for non-criminal justice purposes. As a result, when Compact member States apply for a criminal history background check they receive information from all participating States with a single application.

The legislation we are examining today would require States to partake in this nation-wide information sharing system that would provide human resources directors and administrators with the background information that they need to hire highly qualified individuals without records of sexual abuse to serve in our schools. Unfortunately, only 21 States have currently ratified this compact. While the remaining 29 States still have the opportunity to ratify this compact, I believe that we must encourage this action with thoughtful and effective legislation. By providing a more compelling reason to join the compact, H.R. 2649 would close one of the cracks through which potentially harmful individuals might slip.

As we examine H.R. 2649, the Schools Safely Acquiring Faculty Excellence Act of 2003, I urge the Subcommittee to consider the importance of a safe learning environment. I would also like to gain greater insight into how this Committee can craft legislation that best addresses this important issue.

The immediate and long-term harm that these few unscrupulous individuals can cause is immense. Certainly, the immediate, physical effects of sexual abuse can be devastating. That said, the long term psychological effects have proven to be incredibly harmful through out the life of the victim. I believe we can all agree that these atrocious acts must be removed from our schools, and that our children should be able to attend school without the fear of this depraved behavior.

It is my hope that we can learn from our witnesses today about the scope of the problem, as well as some of the best practices currently being used to deal with this issue. I would also like to point out to my colleagues the fact that a very small number of individuals can endanger the security of all our students. With the vast majority of teachers and staff, our children are safe and in good hands. We must, however, ensure that these few, corrupt individuals are unable to enter our school and abuse our children.

Mr. Chairman, I thank you again for convening this panel of witnesses who can help this Committee further understand the need to protect our children from any individual who might wish them harm. I look forward to working with the Committee on this important legislation in the future and am anxious to hear the testimony of our four witnesses today.