Sec. 22.085. EMPLOYEES AND APPLICANTS CONVICTED OF CERTAIN OFFENSES

(a) A school district, open-enrollment charter school, or shared services arrangement shall discharge or refuse to hire an employee or applicant for employment if the district, school, or shared services arrangement obtains information through a criminal history record information review that:

(1) the employee or applicant has been convicted of:

(A) a felony offense under Title 5, Penal Code;

(B) an offense on conviction of which a defendant is required to register as a sex offender under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure; or

(C) an offense under the laws of another state or federal law that is equivalent to an offense under Paragraph (A) or (B); and

(2) at the time the offense occurred, the victim of the offense described by Subdivision (1) was under 18 years of age or was enrolled in a public school.

(b) Subsection (a) does not apply if the employee or applicant for employment committed an offense under Title 5, Penal Code and:

(1) the date of the offense is more than 30 years before:

(A) the effective date of S.B. No. 9, Acts of the 80th Legislature, Regular Session, 2007, in the case of a person employed by a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or shared services arrangement as of that date; or

(B) the date the person's employment will begin, in the case of a person applying for employment with a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or shared services arrangement after the effective date of S.B. No. 9, Acts of the 80th Legislature, Regular Session, 2007; and

(2) the employee or applicant for employment satisfied all terms of the court order entered on conviction.

(c) A school district, open-enrollment charter school, or shared services arrangement may not allow a person who is an employee of or applicant for employment by an entity that contracts with the district, school, or shared services arrangement to serve at the district or school or for the shared services arrangement if the district, school, or shared services arrangement obtains information described by Subsection (a) through a criminal history record information review concerning the employee or applicant. A school district, open-enrollment charter school, or shared services arrangement must ensure that an entity that the district, school, or shared services arrangement contracts with for services has obtained all criminal history record information as required by Section 22.0834.

(d) A school district, open-enrollment charter school, private school, regional education service center, or shared services arrangement may discharge an employee if the district or school obtains information of the employee's conviction of a felony or of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude that the employee did not disclose to the State Board for Educator Certification or the district, school, service center, or shared services arrangement. An employee discharged under this section is considered to have been discharged for misconduct for purposes of Section 207.044, Labor Code.

(e) The State Board for Educator Certification may impose a sanction on an educator who does not discharge an employee or refuse to hire an applicant if the educator knows or should have known, through a criminal history record information review, that the employee or applicant has been convicted of an offense described by Subsection (a).

(f) Each school year, the superintendent of a school district or chief operating officer of an open-enrollment charter school shall certify to the commissioner that the district or school has complied with this section.

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, Sec. 1, eff. May 30, 1995. Amended by: Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1372 , Sec. 10, eff. June 15, 2007.