Louisiana educators will soon have to undergo a criminal background check before they can receive their teaching license in a move intended to make it more difficult for would-be teachers with prior convictions to slip through the cracks.
Starting January 1, anyone seeking to obtain or renew a teaching certification within the state must pass a criminal background check conducted by State Police. Today, background checks are typically only conducted when teachers apply for new jobs.
The upshot is that new teachers 鈥 and the schools looking to hire them 鈥 will have to wait for the state to complete their background check and issue their license before they can start working in classrooms. Any delay in that process, which the state education department will oversee, could leave schools with unfilled teaching positions.
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