Pubdate: Fri, 28 Jun 2002
Source: Advocate, The (LA)
Copyright: 2002 The Advocate, Capital City Press
Contact:  http://www.theadvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2

COST OF CHECKS SCHOOLS' BURDEN

A School Board committee is recommending that East Baton Rouge Parish 
schools charge people who apply for teaching jobs $25 to help cover the 
cost of criminal background checks on the applicants. The move quite 
literally would amount to passing the buck and is bad policy.

Considering that the local school system must rely on uncertified teachers 
to fill 22 percent of its teaching jobs, it is in the best interest of the 
system to increase the applicant pool for teaching jobs in the public 
school system. The proposed policy is almost certain to discourage some 
potential applicants.

The $25 application fee is being considered in light of increased costs 
associated with the necessary background checks in concert with budget cuts 
at the central office.

The Legislature recently approved increasing State Police fees for 
conducting the checks from $10 to $50 each. The increase could cost the 
local system an additional $120,000 per year.

"That's a big hit for us in a troubled budget year," said Annette Mire, the 
school system's human resources director.

While the escalated cost of background checks certainly represents yet 
another challenge for a system that recently cut nearly $13 million out of 
its operating budget while eliminating 220 jobs, the cost of background 
checks is still only a tiny portion of the School Board's $296 million 
annual budget.

While sharing the cost of background checks with job applicants is a 
workable solution, it isn't a very creative one, and it sends the wrong 
message to teachers, many of whom already spend hundreds of dollars out of 
their own pockets for classroom materials.

More creative is an idea to funnel funds from the I CARE anti-drug 
counseling program to help pay for background checks, which at least in 
theory could protect children against drug-using teachers.

If I CARE can spare the money, however, its own value might be called into 
question.

Expenses related to background checks are an administrative cost basic to 
the hiring of teachers, who perform the duties most central to education. 
If the School Board cannot absorb those costs, how does it justify 
increasing the amount spent on lawyers and consultants this year by $450,000?

If the front office is looking for ideas on how to cover those costs 
without hitting up potential new teachers, it might reconsider some of the 
new administrative positions it recently created, which come even while 
enrollment continues to decline and class sizes grow.

Teachers already put up with a lot. Let's not scare them off before they 
even set their first foot in class.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager