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New background check requirements

The House passed the Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act by a vote of 314 to 20. The act requires all school employees to undergo criminal background checks including: a search of the state criminal registry, a search of the state child abuse and neglect registry, a search of the National Crime Information Center of the Department of Justice (including an FBI fingerprint check), and a search of the National Sex Offender Registry.

The legislation responds to a December report by the Government Accountability Office which reveals sex offenders working in public and private elementary and secondary schools in the absence of a comprehensive background check requirement prior to employment. To read a copy of the report, click here: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11200.pdf.