The Austin, Texas, school district has become the first in the state to fingerprint its employees under a tough new state law.

By the start of the 2011 school year, the law requires some 392,000 state employees -- including all teachers, administrators, custodial and cafeteria workers -- to have fingerprints on file with the Texas Education Agency, The Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported Sunday.

School districts will be able to access the fingerprints and other employee records through a newly created database. Once the agency has the fingerprints, it will be able to use them for nationwide background checks on employees and new hires, the newspaper said.

Currently, most districts only conduct state background checks for budgetary reasons. Those searches do not reveal information about crimes that may have been committed out of state.

The experience of the Austin school district will help refine the system before it is adopted statewide, state school officials said.

Some critics of the new system, however, say it should not be prioritized over other issues like low teacher salaries and other education funding shortages.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 03 December 2007   

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