Sharing problem-teacher data among states: Why so difficult?
Readers of our blog focused upon child sexual abuse — its identification and prevention, as well as just outcomes for victims and due punishment for perpetrators — might reasonably believe that there is a strong federal program in place that helps systematically catalog problem teachers across the country and ensure that relevant information is shared across state lines.
No such program exists.
In fact, notes one national media outlet chronicling the stark problem of teacher sex offenders who target children, there is no federal initiative at all that oversees national efforts to identify dangerous teachers and safeguards young students against acts of sexual abuse.
“The federal government does not play a role,” states the USA TODAY, “in mandating teacher background checks or making sure information about even severe abuse cases is shared between states.”
That stunning lack of federal involvement in such an important matter does not owe to lack of effort to get a national regulatory scheme in place. The paper notes “years of effort by child safety advocates and some U.S. lawmakers” to get tough controls in place.
One such effort was authored by Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL), who sought to move a legislative bill on the subject through the U.S. Congress several years ago. Putnam’s would-be law quite simply called for the creation of a comprehensive and publicly accessible national database of teachers from across the country identified as having engaged in improper sexual conduct.
As noted by the above-cited media source, “The bill never got a hearing.”
Other efforts to foster federal oversight of problem teachers have also failed, which leaves many critics chafing and demanding with increasing vigor that purposeful action be taken.
We will further address the matter in our next blog post.
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