Margett's sex offender law passes in Senate vote
This bill seems like kind of a no-brainer: it would stop teachers charged with felony sex offenses from keeping their credentials by pleading no-contest to a misdemeanor offense.
The bill arose shortly after a massive Associated Press investigation that showed that teachers across the nation were getting in trouble with the law and moving on to new schools without losing credentials.
The only thing that gave me pause was that the bill also sets in the same rules for drug offenses... it seems like the demonstrable problem was with sex offenders, rather than drug offenders. If school boards are not having problems with drug offenders (perhaps suspension and drug treatment can be effective) maybe it did not belong in the bill. Still, it wouldn't surprise me if the same sorts of problems are happening with drug convictions.
A similar bill authored by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, was passed recently also: it would automatically suspend credentials of teachers who had lost their credentials in another state. Again, no-brainer.
The bill arose shortly after a massive Associated Press investigation that showed that teachers across the nation were getting in trouble with the law and moving on to new schools without losing credentials.
The only thing that gave me pause was that the bill also sets in the same rules for drug offenses... it seems like the demonstrable problem was with sex offenders, rather than drug offenders. If school boards are not having problems with drug offenders (perhaps suspension and drug treatment can be effective) maybe it did not belong in the bill. Still, it wouldn't surprise me if the same sorts of problems are happening with drug convictions.
A similar bill authored by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, was passed recently also: it would automatically suspend credentials of teachers who had lost their credentials in another state. Again, no-brainer.
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