COST OF CHECKS SCHOOLS' BURDEN

A School Board committee is recommending that East Baton Rouge Parish
schools charge people who apply for teaching jobs $25 to help cover the
cost of criminal background checks on the applicants. The move quite
literally would amount to passing the buck and is bad policy.

Considering that the local school system must rely on uncertified teachers
to fill 22 percent of its teaching jobs, it is in the best interest of the
system to increase the applicant pool for teaching jobs in the public
school system. The proposed policy is almost certain to discourage some
potential applicants.

The $25 application fee is being considered in light of increased costs
associated with the necessary background checks in concert with budget cuts
at the central office.

The Legislature recently approved increasing State Police fees for
conducting the checks from $10 to $50 each. The increase could cost the
local system an additional $120,000 per year.

"That's a big hit for us in a troubled budget year," said Annette Mire, the
school system's human resources director.

While the escalated cost of background checks certainly represents yet
another challenge for a system that recently cut nearly $13 million out of
its operating budget while eliminating 220 jobs, the cost of background
checks is still only a tiny portion of the School Board's $296 million
annual budget.

While sharing the cost of background checks with job applicants is a
workable solution, it isn't a very creative one, and it sends the wrong
message to teachers, many of whom already spend hundreds of dollars out of
their own pockets for classroom materials.

More creative is an idea to funnel funds from the I CARE anti-drug
counseling program to help pay for background checks, which at least in
theory could protect children against drug-using teachers.

If I CARE can spare the money, however, its own value might be called into
question.

Expenses related to background checks are an administrative cost basic to
the hiring of teachers, who perform the duties most central to education.
If the School Board cannot absorb those costs, how does it justify
increasing the amount spent on lawyers and consultants this year by $450,000?

If the front office is looking for ideas on how to cover those costs
without hitting up potential new teachers, it might reconsider some of the
new administrative positions it recently created, which come even while
enrollment continues to decline and class sizes grow.

Teachers already put up with a lot. Let's not scare them off before they
even set their first foot in class.