Strengthen Student Safety

Office of School Personnel Review and Accountability (OSPRA):

• Conducts fingerprint background checks for school employees

• Investigates criminal backgrounds

• Issues or denies clearances for employment in schools

• Investigates subsequent arrests

• Manages educator discipline process

 

OSPRA (since 2001 SAVE legislation)
Clearances Issued via Fingerprint Process	580,298
Rap Sheets Reviewed	38,269
Subsequent Arrests Processed	15,287
Clearances Denied	1,378
Teacher Tenure Cases Opened	2,041
Educator Complaints Filed	12,371
Educators Disciplined	383

Chart Image

	Clearance Denials	Educator Disciplined	Teacher Tenure Cases	Subsequent Arrests	Complaints About Educators
2002	23	46	222	681	865
2007	346	97	436	4193	5300

 

• Restore: Proposed cut of 50% in OSPRA's fingerprinting budget ($500,000). Cut would mean:

  • Employment clearances will take longer

  • District vacancies filled through emergency appointments could include individuals with criminal histories

• New LiveScan fingerprinting system will alleviate some fingerprint processing backlog, but will increase volume of individuals in the system and the number of investigations that need to be conducted. In 2007, OSPRA handled over 13,000 investigative files. This number will continue to increase.
  
  
• Request: Increase of $1.45 million to enhance OSPRA operations and provide ethics curriculum and training to educators.
  
  
• Request: Authorization to automatically suspend and subsequently revoke certification of an educator convicted of an offense subject to registration under the Sex Offender Registration Act.