Bills · 2015-2016 Regular Session
Relating to: persons disqualified from having certain responsibilities in a private school participating in a parental choice program.
Parochial and private schools Public instruction, department of School — Attendance State superintendent of public instruction
- Introduced, stopped here
- Passes Senate, not reached
- Passes Assembly, not reached
- Governor signs, not reached
- Law, not reached
Unfamiliar terms? Glossary
What this bill does
Plain-language analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill broadens the authority of the Department of Public Instruction to bar
from participation in a parental choice program a private school that hires or retains
a disqualified person. The bill also modifies the definition of disqualified person to
include the following persons: 1) a person for whom a license to operate a child care
center was denied, revoked, suspended, not renewed, or not continued; 2) a person
who has been convicted of, or pled guilty or no contest to, a crime involving an act of
fraud or dishonesty against an agency or political subdivision of this state or against
a federal agency; and 3) a person who would not be eligible under current law to be
employed or licensed as a teacher for reasons including conviction of a felony for a
crime against life or bodily security or public health and safety.
Current law permits DPI to issue an order that bars a private school from
participating in a parental choice program or that terminates the participation of a
private school in a parental choice program under certain circumstances, including
if the school misrepresents information, fails to maintain accreditation or meet
certain academic standards, or retains a disqualified person. Under current law, a
"disqualified person" is one who satisfied one of the following at the time that a
private school was barred or terminated from a parental choice program by an order
of the department: 1) the person had a controlling ownership interest in, or was the
administrator or an officer, director, or trustee of, the private school; 2) the person
was designated by the administrator of the private school to assist in processing
pupil applications; or 3) the person was responsible for an action or circumstance
that led to the private school being barred or terminated from participation in the
program.
Currently, DPI may bar the participation of a private school in a choice program
if the private school retains, for compensation or as a volunteer, a disqualified person
within seven years after the date of an order issued by DPI. This bill eliminates the
seven-year limit on the person's status as a disqualified person; as a result, DPI may
bar from participation in a parental choice program a private school that hires or
retains a disqualified person regardless of the amount of time that has passed since
the person engaged in the disqualifying activity.