Chapter 1054 Oregon Laws 1999

Session Law

AN ACT

SB 367

Relating to education service districts; creating new provisions; amending ORS 181.539, 326.603, 334.217, 334.240 and 342.232; and declaring an emergency.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

SECTION 1. ORS 334.217 is amended to read:

334.217. (1) The State Board of Education by rule shall establish standards to determine the adequacy of services and facilities provided by the education service districts. In establishing such standards, the state board shall consider the most economic method of providing services and facilities, the quality of the services and facilities according to the best educational standards, and the needs of the students.

(2) When the [state board] Superintendent of Public Instruction determines pursuant to rule that an education service district is [substandard] nonstandard, the district designated [substandard] nonstandard shall file a plan to meet standards over a specified period of time. The [state board] superintendent may accept, reject or modify the plan and order the [substandard] nonstandard district to comply with the plan as approved by the [state board] superintendent. Once a plan is approved, the district shall be conditionally standard until all deficiencies are corrected. If a district corrects all deficiencies, the district shall be designated as standard. The district shall have 180 days from the date the plan is accepted to make all corrections. After that time, the superintendent may impose sanctions on the district if the district has not made the necessary corrections. The state board shall establish by rule appropriate sanctions for noncompliance. The sanctions may include mandatory merger of the [substandard] nonstandard education service district with a contiguous education service district that is standard, the sanctions described in ORS 342.173, if applicable, or the withholding of funds from the State School Fund.

SECTION 2. ORS 334.240 is amended to read:

334.240. (1) The education service district board shall be subject in all respects to the Local Budget Law (ORS 294.305 to 294.565), except that in addition to other qualifications, members of the budget committee who are not members of the education service district board shall be members of component school district boards within the education service district or shall be designees of a school district board.

(2) Notwithstanding ORS 294.336 and 294.341, a majority of the members of the budget committee of an education service district must consist of members of the component school district boards or designees of a school district board. The budget committee may meet to conduct business if the education service district board is unable to fill all of the positions on the budget committee.

(3) The board of the education service district is authorized to prepare and adopt a budget for its own expenses and for its operational, administrative and resolution services expenses. The board's own expenses include expenses for travel, for providing the board with professional and clerical assistance, and for such services, equipment and supplies as the board may require. The board's budget may include amounts necessary to provide special services and facilities authorized by ORS 334.175 (1) and (2), and to support providing services and programs for children with disabilities, for the talented and gifted or for bilingual or English as a second language education as these programs are described in ORS 336.074, 336.079, 343.035, 343.397 and 343.830.

SECTION 3. ORS 181.539 is amended to read:

181.539. (1) Upon the request of the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission or the Department of Education, the Department of State Police shall furnish to the authorized staff of the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission or the Department of Education such information on a subject individual as the Department of State Police may have in its possession from its central bureau of criminal identification, including but not limited to manual or computerized criminal offender information.

(2)(a) Subsequent to furnishing the information required under subsection (1) of this section, the Department of State Police shall conduct nationwide criminal records checks of the subject individual through the Federal Bureau of Investigation by use of the subject individual's fingerprints and shall report the results to the staff of the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission or the Department of Education, who must be specifically authorized to receive the information.

(b) The Federal Bureau of Investigation shall either return or destroy the fingerprint cards used to conduct the criminal records check and shall not keep any record of the fingerprints. However, if the federal bureau policy authorizing return or destruction of the fingerprint cards is changed, the department shall cease to send the cards to the federal bureau but shall continue to process the information through other available resources.

(c) If the Federal Bureau of Investigation returns the fingerprint cards to the Department of State Police, the department shall return the fingerprint cards to the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission or the Department of Education. The Teacher Standards and Practices Commission or the Department of Education shall destroy the fingerprint cards and shall retain no facsimiles or other material from which a fingerprint can be reproduced.

(3) For purposes of requesting and receiving the information and data described in subsections (1) and (2) of this section, the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission and the Department of Education are designated agencies for purposes of ORS 181.010 to 181.560 and 181.715 to 181.730.

(4) As used in this section, "subject individual" means:

(a) An individual who is applying for initial issuance of a license under ORS 342.120 to 342.430 as a teacher, administrator or personnel specialist if the individual has not submitted to a criminal records check within the previous year with the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission for the purpose of a criminal records check.

(b) An individual who is applying for reinstatement of a license as a teacher, administrator or personnel specialist whose license has lapsed for at least three years.

(d) A school district or private school contractor, whether part-time or full-time, or an employee thereof, whether part-time or full-time, who has direct, unsupervised contact with students as determined by the district or private school.

(e) An individual newly hired, whether part-time or full-time, by a school district or private school in a capacity not described in paragraphs (a) to (c) of this subsection who has direct, unsupervised contact with children as determined by the district or private school.

(f) An individual employee, whether part-time or full-time, of a school district or private school in a capacity not described in paragraphs (a) to (c) of this subsection who has direct, unsupervised contact with children as determined by the district or private school.

(g) An individual who is registering with the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission for student teaching, practicum or internship as a teacher, administrator or personnel specialist, if the individual has not submitted to a criminal records check within the previous year with the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission for student teaching, practicum or internship as a teacher, administrator or personnel specialist.

(h) An individual who is a community college faculty member providing instruction at a kindergarten through grade 12 school site during the regular school day.

(5) "Subject individual" does not include an individual described in subsection (4)(d), (e), (f) or (h) of this section if the individual or the individual's employer was checked in one school district or private school and is currently seeking to work in another district or private school unless the individual lived outside this state during the period between the two periods of time of working in the district or private school.

(6) Nothing in this section shall be considered to require a subject individual as described in subsection (4)(d) or (e) of this section to submit to fingerprinting until the individual has been offered employment or a contract by a school district or private school. Contractor employees shall not be required to submit to fingerprinting until the contractor has been offered a contract.

(7) As used in this section:

(a) "Private school" means a school that provides educational services as defined in ORS 345.505 and is registered as a private school under ORS 345.505 to 345.575.

(b) "School district" means:

(A) A school district as defined in ORS 330.003.

(B) The Oregon State School for the Blind.

(D) An educational program under the Youth Corrections Education Program.

(E) An education service district.

SECTION 4. ORS 326.603 is amended to read:

326.603. (1)(a) A school district shall send to the Department of Education for purposes of a criminal records check any information, including fingerprints, for each subject individual described in ORS 181.539 (4)(d), (e), (f) or (h).

(b) A private school may send to the Department of Education for purposes of a criminal records check any information, including fingerprints, for each subject individual described in ORS 181.539 (4)(d), (e), (f) or (h).

(2) The Department of Education shall request criminal offender information from the Department of State Police in the manner required by ORS 181.539 and shall charge the district or private school a fee of $42 for the cost of acquiring and furnishing the information described in ORS 181.525 and 181.539. The school district or private school may recover its costs or a portion thereof from the subject individual described in ORS 181.539 (4)(d), (e), (f) or (h). If the subject individual described in ORS 181.539 (4)(e) or (f) requests, the district shall and a private school may withhold the amount from amounts otherwise due the individual, including a periodic payroll deduction rather than a lump sum payment.

(3)(a) If the Superintendent of Public Instruction informs the school district that the subject individual has been convicted of a crime listed in ORS 342.143 or has made a false statement as to the conviction of a crime, the superintendent shall notify the school district of the fact and the district shall not employ or contract with the individual. Notification by the superintendent that the school district shall not employ or contract with the subject individual shall remove the individual from any school district policies, collective bargaining provisions regarding dismissal procedures and appeals and the provisions of ORS 342.805 to 342.937.

(b) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall notify the private school if the subject individual has been convicted of a crime listed in ORS 342.143 or has made a false statement as to the conviction of a crime. Based on the notice, the private school may choose not to employ or contract with the individual.

(c) The criminal records are confidential and shall not be released to the district or private school but are subject to inspection by the subject individual. The subject individual, other than a subject individual in a private school, may appeal the determination as a contested case under ORS 183.413 to 183.470 and the superintendent shall notify the subject individual of the right to appeal the determination.

(4) If an individual described in subsection (1) of this section refuses to consent to the criminal records check or refuses to be fingerprinted or if the subject individual falsely swears to the nonconviction of a crime, the district shall terminate the employment or contract status of the individual. Termination under this subsection shall remove the individual from any school district policies, collective bargaining provisions regarding dismissal procedures and appeals and the provisions of ORS 342.805 to 342.937.

(5) The State Board of Education by rule shall specify the information to be required by subsection (1) of this section.

(6)(a) A school district shall not hire or continue to employ or contract with or allow the contractor to continue to assign an individual to the school project if the individual described in subsection (1) of this section has been convicted of a crime according to the provisions of ORS 342.143.

(b) School district employment and contract forms shall contain a notice that employment or contracting is subject to fingerprinting and a criminal records check as required by ORS 181.525, 181.537, 181.539, 326.603, 342.223, 342.227 and 342.232.

(7) As used in this section and ORS 326.607:

(a) "Private school" means a school that provides educational services as defined in ORS 345.505 and is registered as a private school under ORS 345.505 to 345.575.

(b) "School district" means:

(A) A school district as defined in ORS 330.003.

(B) The Oregon State School for the Blind.

(D) An educational program under the Youth Corrections Education Program.

(E) An education service district.

SECTION 5. Any action done by the State Board of Education, the Department of Education, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, a school district or an education service district pursuant to ORS 326.603, during the period beginning September 9, 1995, and ending on the effective date of this 1999 Act, that would have satisfied the requirements of ORS 326.603, as amended by section 4 of this 1999 Act, is validated.

SECTION 6. ORS 342.232 is amended to read:

342.232. (1) A school district, education service district or private school may authorize an individual described under ORS 181.539 (4)(d) or (h) to begin carrying out the terms of a contract pending the return of the criminal records check by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(2) A school district, education service district or private school may hire on a probationary basis an individual described under ORS 181.539 (4)(e) pending the return of the criminal records check by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

SECTION 7. This 1999 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 1999 Act takes effect on its passage.

Approved by the Governor September 1, 1999

Filed in the office of the Secretary of State September 1, 1999

Effective date September 1, 1999

__________