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State Senate bills look to close sex offense loopholes
Oakland Tribune, Apr 24, 2008 by Juliet Williams
SACRAMENTO -- The state Senate on Monday unanimously approved legislation to automatically suspend teachers' credentials if they have had their license revoked in another state for sexual misconduct.
The bill by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, is intended to close a loophole in California's teacher licensing system. It allows those teachers to remain in the classroom while the California Teacher Credentialing Commission investigates their case, a process that can sometimes take two or three years.
Scott said his bill was prompted by an Associated Press investigation last year into sexual misconduct by teachers. It passed 38-0 and now goes to the Assembly.
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Also on Monday, a Senate committee passed a bill by Sen. Bob Margett, R-Arcadia, to close another loophole. That one allows teachers who are charged with sexual misconduct in California but enter no-contest pleas to a lesser offense to retain their teaching credentials.
The bill could be heard in the full Senate as soon as Wednesday.
Margett's bill also was prompted by the AP's report last year. It found 2,570 educators nationwide whose teaching credentials had been revoked, denied, surrendered or sanctioned between 2001 and 2005 following allegations of sexual misconduct.
The AP's investigation in California confirmed at least 313 cases in which teachers had been punished for sexual misconduct. That included dozens involving pleas of no contest, a common legal agreement that allows a defendant to avoid a trial or civil liability but still leads to conviction.
The two bills aim to close certain gaps in California's teacher licensing system, including one that allows some teachers to remain in the classroom after they have been accused of serious crimes.
Scott's legislation also would require the credentialing commission to automatically revoke teachers' licenses if a criminal conviction has limited their contact with children.
The state's largest teachers union, the California Teachers Association, initially opposed both bills but agreed not to fight them after the senators made changes.
Margett revised his bill to ensure that it only applies to sex crimes and drug offenses, not other offenses for which a teacher can lose their license, said Mary Armstrong, legal counsel for the state credentialing commission, which sponsored both bills.
"They're attacking very small areas of the law that have a very big impact," she said.
Margett's bill also would extend the statute of limitations for disclosing past teacher misconduct.
Under California law, the results of misconduct allegations are sealed by the Teacher Credentialing Commission after one year. That restricts school administrators' ability to confirm teaching candidates' full records if they learn later that the applicant lied about his or her background.
Margett's legislation would make the records available for five years instead of one.
The Teacher Credentialing Commission sponsored the bills after the AP published the results of its seven-month investigation in November.
The Association of California School Administrators, the California School Boards Association and the Los Angeles Unified School District support the bills.
California law also prohibits the credentialing commission from revealing the reason that teachers who plead no contest lose their licenses. The Senate bills do not address that issue.
On the Net:
Read the bills, SB1105 and SB1110, at: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/ bilinfo.html.
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