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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 60th Legislature (2025)
SENATE BILL 346 By: Bergstrom
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to school personnel; amending 70 O.S.
2021, Section 5-142, which relates to criminal
history record checks for school employees; requiring
certain letter to include certain attestation;
updating statutory language; updating statutory
references; providing an effective date; and
declaring an emergency .
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 5 -142, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 5-142. A. Except as otherwise provided for in
subsection F of this section, for purposes of employment, a board of
education may request in wr iting 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)
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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 writ ten 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 inform ation 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 educ ation.
D. For the purpose of this section:
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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 w ithin 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 c riminal history record check
requests. The temporary employment of the prospe ctive 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
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requirement, the fee , and the reimbursement policy when first
interviewed concerning emplo yment. 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 pe rson 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 m ay 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 empl oyed stating the
teacher left in good standing. The letter shall attest to whether
allegations of inappropriate behavior between the teacher and a
student or students were raised and whether there was a pending or
ongoing investigation of inappropriate be havior between the teacher
and a student or students.
2. For any person apply ing 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
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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 employ ed 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 c opy 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. The letter shall attest to whether
allegations of inappropriate behavior between the teacher and a
student or students were raised and whether there was a pending or
ongoing investigation of inappropriate behavior between the teacher
and a student or students.
4. Any person employed as a substit ute 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 chec k if the teacher produces a copy of a
national criminal history record check completed within the
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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 stan ding.
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 ha ve 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 histor y
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 May 19, 2020, 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 wi th his or her employing district as
required by this section shall complete th e criminal history record
checks upon the next renewal of his or her Standard Teaching
Certificate standard teaching certificate as required by Section 6 -
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154.1 of this title or S tate 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 May 19, 2020, who does not have an
Oklahoma criminal history record check from the Oklahoma State
Bureau of Investigat ion 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 c heck, 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:
a. July 1, 2022, or
b. at the next renewal of his or her Standard Teaching
Certificate standard teaching certificate as required
by Section 6-154.1 of this title or State Board of
Education administrati ve rules promulgated thereto.
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H. The provisions of this section shall not app ly 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.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective July 1, 2025.
SECTION 3. It being immediate ly necessary for the preservation
of the public peace, health, or safety, an emergency is hereby
declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and
be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
60-1-836 EB 1/3/2025 9:56:32 AM