A. Except as otherwise provided for in subsection F of this section, for purposes of employment, a board of education may request in writing to the State Board of Education that a national criminal history record check be conducted of any employee of the school and shall request such information for any person seeking employment with the school; provided that a board of education shall not be required to obtain a new criminal history record check for an individual who has obtained certification from the State Department of Education within the previous twelve (12) months. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) shall obtain fingerprints of the employee or prospective employee and require that the person pay a search fee not to exceed Fifty Dollars ($50.00) or the cost of the search, whichever is the lesser amount. The fee shall be deposited in the OSBI Revolving Fund. School districts may reimburse employees for the cost of the search. The State Board of Education shall contact the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for any national criminal history record of the person within fourteen (14) working days of receiving a written request from the board of education.
B. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shall provide the national criminal history record check requested by the State Board of Education within fourteen (14) working days from the receipt of the request. The Bureau may contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain the information requested.
C. The State Board of Education shall provide the information received from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to the board of education within fourteen (14) days from the receipt of the information. The State Board of Education shall provide any follow-up information received from the OSBI concerning a person for which a national criminal history record check was requested to the employing board of education.
D. For the purpose of this section:
1. "Board of education" includes both public and private boards of education within or outside this state;
2. "Employing agency" means a political subdivision or law enforcement agency in this state;
3. "Law enforcement officer" means a peace or police officer who is certified by the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training;
4. "National criminal history record check" means a national criminal history record check as defined in Section 150.9 of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes; and
5. "Prospective employee" means an individual who has received an offer of temporary employment from a school district pending the results of the national criminal history record check.
E. Each public board of education within this state shall promulgate a statement regarding the felony record search policy for that school district. The policy may permit temporary employment of prospective employees for a maximum of sixty (60) days pending receipt of results of national criminal history record check requests. The temporary employment of the prospective employee shall terminate after sixty (60) days unless the school district receives the results of the national criminal history record check. The sixty-day temporary employment period shall begin on the first day the prospective employee reports for duty at the employing school district. Prospective employees shall be notified of the requirement, the fee and the reimbursement policy when first interviewed concerning employment. The school district's reimbursement policy shall provide, at a minimum, that employees shall be promptly reimbursed in full for the fee if employed by the district at the time the national criminal history record check request is made unless the person was employed pending receipt of results as set forth above.
F. 1. Any person who has been employed as a full-time teacher by a school district in this state and applies for employment as a full-time teacher in another school district in this state may not be required to have a national criminal history record check if the teacher produces a copy of a national criminal history record check completed within the preceding five (5) years and a letter from the school district in which the teacher was employed stating the teacher left in good standing.
2. For any person applying for employment as a substitute teacher, a national criminal history record check shall be required for the school year; provided, however, a board of education may choose whether to require a national criminal history record check from a prospective substitute teacher who has been employed by the school district in the last year. Any person applying for employment as a substitute teacher in more than one school district shall only be required to have one national criminal history record check, and, upon the request of the substitute teacher, that record check shall be sent to all other school districts in which the substitute teacher is applying to teach.
3. Any person employed as a full-time teacher by a school district in this state in the five (5) years immediately preceding an application for employment as a substitute teacher may not be required to have a national criminal history record check, if the teacher produces a copy of a national criminal history record check completed within the preceding five (5) years and a letter from the school district in which the teacher was last employed stating the teacher left in good standing.
4. Any person employed as a substitute teacher by a school district in this state for a minimum of five (5) years immediately preceding an application for employment as a full-time teacher in a school district in this state may not be required to have a national criminal history record check if the teacher produces a copy of a national criminal history record check completed within the preceding five (5) years and a letter from the school district in which the teacher was employed as a substitute teacher stating the teacher left in good standing.
5. Any person employed as a full-time teacher by a school district in this state for ten (10) or more consecutive years immediately preceding an application for employment as a substitute teacher in the same school district may not be required to have a national criminal history record check for as long as the person remains employed for consecutive years by that school district as a substitute teacher, if the teacher left full-time employment in good standing. If the teacher applies for employment as a substitute teacher in another school district, a national criminal history record check shall be required.
G. 1. Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, any teacher employed by an Oklahoma school district prior to the effective date of this act who does not have an Oklahoma criminal history record check from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation as well as a national criminal history record check, as defined in Section 150.9 of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes, on file with his or her employing district as required by this section shall complete the criminal history record checks upon the next renewal of his or her Standard Teaching Certificate as required by Section 6-154.1 of this title or State Board of Education administrative rules promulgated thereto.
2. Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, any other person employed by an Oklahoma school district prior to the effective date of this act who does not have an Oklahoma criminal history record check from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation as well as a national criminal history record check, as defined in Section 150.9 of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes, on file with his or her employing district as required by this section shall have until July 1, 2022, to complete the criminal history record checks.
3. Any teacher eligible to retire from the Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma who does not have an Oklahoma criminal history record check from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation as well as a national criminal history record check, as defined in Section 150.9 of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes, on file with his or her employing district as required by this section shall complete the criminal history record checks by the earlier of the following dates:
H. The provisions of this section shall not apply to technology center employees hired on a part-time or temporary basis for the instruction of adult students only.
I. The provisions of this section shall not apply to law enforcement officers who are employed by an employing agency at the time of application for employment at a public school district.
J. Nothing in this section shall be construed to impose liability on school districts, except in negligence, for employing prospective employees within the sixty-day temporary employment window pending the results of the national criminal history record check.
Added by Laws 1985, c. 152, § 1, eff. July 1, 1985. Amended by Laws 1986, c. 259, § 61, operative July 1, 1986; Laws 1990, c. 257, § 15, emerg. eff. May 23, 1990; Laws 1994, c. 319, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1994; Laws 1997, c. 81, § 1, eff. July 1, 1997; Laws 2010, c. 406, § 1, eff. July 1, 2010; Laws 2011, c. 27, § 1, eff. July 1, 2011; Laws 2011, c. 90, § 1; Laws 2011, c. 250, § 1, eff. July 1, 2011; Laws 2011, c. 352, § 1, eff. July 1, 2011; Laws 2012, c. 354, § 6; Laws 2013, c. 32, § 1; Laws 2015, c. 12, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2015; Laws 2017, c. 199, § 1, eff. July 1, 2017; Laws 2020, c. 49, § 1, emerg. eff. May 19, 2020.