‘Disappointed.’ Bill to address sexual misconduct in KY schools is dead despite support
A bill that beefs up screening and disclosure requirements of teachers who have been accused of sexual misconduct will not be passed this legislative session despite unanimous approval in the House and a Senate committee, the bill’s sponsor said this week.
Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, said House Bill 288, which would make it more difficult for teachers accused of sexual misconduct to move to a different school district, will not get a vote before the full Senate.
Tipton said this week Senate leaders have told him HB 288 needs more work and further vetting.
“I have been told that the Senate may not hear the bill this session,” Tipton said.” They have some concerns they want to work on.”
Tipton said he had been told by Senate leadership that there may be “unintended consequences” as a result of the legislation, but he said he hopes to return in the 2024 legislative session with a similar bill.
“I am disappointed,” Tipton said. “ I will continue to work on this issue over the interim.”
The legislation would ban nondisclosure agreements about teacher misconduct involving minors, including sexual misconduct.
The bill would also increase disclosure requirements about past misconduct. Applicants for jobs must disclose if they have been the subject of an investigation in the prior four years. It would also require that investigations into school employee sexual misconduct be completed before a teacher resigned.
“The reality is that there will be kids who suffer over the next school year because of this failure to act on such a common sense and urgent piece of legislation,” Kentucky Youth Advocates executive director Terry Brooks said in a Thursday statement.
HB 288 would have strengthened a school’s ability to prevent child abuse and keep kids safe from adults with allegations or substantiations of sexual misconduct.
Tipton said during a March 9 Senate Education Committee meeting the bill was in response to a Lexington Herald-Leader series of stories on teacher sexual misconduct and the impact across the state. Tipton is the chairman of the House Education Committee.
The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Education Committee. It had previously received unanimous approval in the House Education Committee and the House. The bill has the backing of the Kentucky Department of Education.
School districts must check with all previous schools a teacher has been employed at before hiring an individual, the bill says. School districts would not be sued for releasing information about a teachers’ prior misconduct, according to the bill.
The original bill would require the results remain in the teacher’s permanent record, including exonerations.
During the March 9 committee meeting, some senators raised questions about how long an allegation would stay in a teacher’s file.
In addition, the bill would also require teachers receive training on appropriate boundaries and conduct between teachers and students every five years.
Currently, Kentucky requires teachers to have training on sexual abuse but that training is not specific to misconduct between school staff and students.
Criminal background checks would be required every five years. Currently, teachers get a criminal background check when they are hired but there is no requirement school districts continue to check on a teacher’s criminal history.
In a September series, the Herald-Leader obtained 194 cases of teachers who voluntarily surrendered or had their license revoked or suspended from 2016 to 2021. Of those, 118 — 61% — lost their license due to sexual misconduct. The overwhelming majority of those cases involved male teachers and teenage girls.
The Herald-Leader also found instances where teachers who had previously been accused of sexual misconduct moved to other school districts and were accused again of misconduct.
This story was originally published March 30, 2023 at 3:06 PM.
