2019-20 Annual Fingerprinting Certification and Statement of Compliance
| Date: | October 24, 2019 |
|---|---|
| Subject: | 2019-20 Annual Fingerprinting Certification and Statement of Compliance |
| Category: | Fingerprinting Compliance |
| Next Steps: | Share with superintendent, ensure all employees are fingerprinted as required, submit the certification of compliance to TEA |
Chapter 22, Subchapter C, of the Texas Education Code (TEC) requires school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to ensure that certain individuals are fingerprinted to undergo a national criminal history review and that other individuals undergo a name-based criminal history record information review. In addition, superintendents of districts and chief operating officers of charter schools are required to certify annually to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) that the district or charter school has complied with TEC, §22.085. The deadline for this submission is November 22, 2019.
If an educator knows or should have known, through a criminal history record information review, that an employee or applicant has been convicted of certain offenses, as set forth in TEC, §22.085(a), and the educator retains the employee or hires the applicant, the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) may impose a sanction on the educator.
Districts and charter schools that fail to certify and return the attached form by the deadline may be subject to:
- Inclusion in a permanent public notice that lists all districts and open-enrollment charter schools who have failed to certify compliance with fingerprinting and background check requirements;
- A special accreditation investigation as defined under TEC, §39.057; and
- An investigation of the superintendent or chief operating officer who has violated TEC, §11.201(d)(13) or Title 19, Texas Administrative Code, §249.15 by failing to complete the certification as required.
Please sign, notarize, and submit your completed 2019-2020 Annual Fingerprinting Certification and Statement of Compliance via email to FingerprintingCompliance@tea.texas.gov by November 22, 2019.
If you have any questions regarding this requirement, please submit your inquiry through the Fingerprinting Help Desk.
Sincerely,
Ryan Franklin
Associate Commissioner
Educator Leadership and Quality
Attachment: 2019-20 Annual Fingerprinting Certification and Statement of Compliance