New Fingerprint Law Slows Hiring of Teachers

Santa Ana schools need athletic trainers, but they must be patient. A disabled Irvine student required a special education teacher, but school officials had to wait more than a month before they could hire the instructor. And it took nearly four weeks for Capistrano Unified administrators to replace a teacher who went on maternity leave.

This delay in school hirings, which is happening across California, has been caused by a state law passed in October requiring districts to do criminal checks on anyone they want to hire, from principals to custodians. Although the law is well-intentioned, school administrators say, the state is not equipped to handle the overwhelming demand.

“It is an operational nightmare,” said Capistrano Unified School District Supt. Jim Fleming, who oversees nearly 4,000 employees. “When we make decisions to hire people, and they are ready to work, the fingerprint check takes about a month to process. It’s a mess.”

Since the law was passed, the load of background checks has increased by 150% at the state Department of Justice. Previously, the department handled nearly 750,000 background checks a year for government agencies, including the state medical board, the State Bar of California and Department of Motor Vehicles. With the new law, they saw an additional 20,000 cases in November alone. Over a year, that would be an increase of nearly a third.

“That’s a significant bump in numbers,” Department of Justice spokesman Mike Van Winkle said.

To accommodate the demand, the department has added staff and spent $2 million in overtime since the law went into effect, Van Winkle said. Despite the swelling caseload, he said, the department has managed to complete checks within 30 working days. But that isn’t good enough for the schools.

“Our standard used to be to get things out in 10 working days,” he said. “Now with the increase, we’re taking about 22 days. Schools are expecting a 10-day turnaround. We can’t do that at this point, and we’re getting criticism for it.”

Every day is precious, school officials argue.

A lack of trainers creates risk for athletes who get injured. With drivers waiting to be hired, bus routes are longer and school buses are more crowded.

Promptness is key in hiring employees such as computer technicians who are wanted by the private sector.

“With the demand for people with computer or other special skills, they can easily get a job in the private industry and don’t wait for clearance,” said Susan Long, Irvine Unified School District’s deputy superintendent of human resources.

The law also affects teachers already employed. Periodically, instructors must renew their teaching credentials with the state. In past years, teachers could obtain temporary teaching credentials from the county while the state was updating their records. However, the new law requires that instructors get their fingerprints checked even for temporary teaching permits.

School officials complain that the extra precaution is unnecessary because the state always has required teachers to get fingerprinted before they earn their credentials. Regardless, state law historically has forbidden anyone with a felony record from being hired as a teacher.

Another new law, passed with the fingerprint bill, prohibits schools from hiring nonteaching staff, such as custodians, classroom aides and bus drivers, who have committed violent crimes.

Both laws were passed after an 18-year-old student was raped and killed at a Sacramento high school in May. Charged in the case is a member of a Los Angeles street gang who had been paroled from Folsom prison last spring and who had been convicted of voluntary manslaughter and armed robbery. He had been on the school district’s payroll as a substitute custodian for about three weeks.

“The tragic case in Sacramento has affected us all in many ways,” said La Habra Police Chief Steven Staveley, who is pushing a proposal that would upgrade a fingerprint identification system to serve the county’s school districts and law enforcement agencies.

With wide support from school officials, Staveley’s plan would add a $1 fee to vehicles registered in Orange County, generating the $10.5 million needed to replace the sheriff’s 14-year-old fingerprint system. If the plan goes through, local police departments will be able to check fingerprints in 20 minutes. School districts also could go to their local law enforcement agencies for the checks, instead of having to send them to Sacramento.

The county Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider the $1 fee Jan. 27. Several city councils, including Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach, have endorsed the fee.

Such a computer system, however, will take several years to install. Aiming for a more immediate solution, the county Department of Education asked the state for a computer connection to Department of Justice fingerprint records that will allow school districts to make the checks themselves.

“That may be six months to a year away,” said Mike Kilbourn, the county Department of Education’s legislative liaison. “That would really help out schools. Right now, it has just been total chaos in schools.”

Times staff writer Shelby Grad contributed to this story.