Office of Independent Education & Parental Choice
Employment History/Screening
Before employing instructional personnel or school administrators in any position that requires direct contact with students, participating private schools must conduct an employment history check by contacting previous employers and retaining documentation of the results in the employee's personnel file.
Participating private schools must also screen new instructional personnel or school administrators using the two employee screening tools available through the Department of Education.
Employment Screening Request
The Teacher Certification Database (also known as the Bureau of Educator Certification Partnership Access & Services System -- BEC-PASS) provides information related to an educator's current certification status and employment history data.
Private schools must submit an Employment Screening Request for each instructional personnel and school administrator prior to employment, even if the individual has never applied for certification. The findings from the database must be maintained in the individual employee's file. The Employment Screening Request Reference Tool has been developed to assist private schools in understanding the Employment Screening responses. Please submit any inquiries related to the Teacher Certification System to EmploymentScreening@fldoe.org.
Employment Screening Request Link
Professional Practices Database of Disciplinary Action
This database provides access to final orders issued by the Education Practices Commission and displays a summary of any disciplinary action taken against an individual's Florida educator certificate. Private schools should use this tool to search the names of any new instructional personnel and school administrators, and document the findings.
Professional Practices Database of Disciplinary Action Link
FAQs
- During the Employment Screening Process, is there a form that schools need to fill out to document their findings after contacting previous employers?
- What are the Professional Practices Database of Disciplinary Actions and the Teacher Certification Database (BEC-PASS)?
- Are instructional personnel and school administrators required to be screened through the Teacher Certification Database (BEC-PASS) if they have never applied for state certification?
- If a teacher resigns during the school year and a replacement is put in place, is there any grace period on the background check?
- Does a volunteer need to be screened using the employment screening tools?
- If a person is hired with no previous employment history, what documentation is required?
- The Office of Professional Practices Database of Disciplinary Actions shows a blank page when there are no results found for the employee. What will need to be printed for documentation?
- Do aftercare workers who do tutoring need to be fingerprinted and reviewed the same way as other teaching (instructional) staff? What if they aren't offering instruction but just supervision?
There is not a standardized form to use in conducting and documenting employment history checks for instructional personnel and school administrators in positions that require direct contact with students. Private schools should document their findings in writing and maintain the documentation in the individual employee's file.
The Professional Practices Database of Disciplinary Actions provides access to final orders issued by the Education Practices Commission and displays a summary of any disciplinary action taken against an individual's Florida educator certificate.
The Teacher Certification Database (Bureau of Educator Certification Partnership Access & Services System) provides information related to an educator's current certification status and employment history data.
Yes. All new instructional personnel and school administrators with direct student contact must be screened using the Department's two screening tools, the Professional Practices Database of Disciplinary Actions and the Teacher Certification Database (BEC-PASS).
The statute does not provide for a grace period. Section 1002.421(4)(c), Florida Statutes., requires the employment history checks and screening through the employment screening tools to be completed "before employing instructional personnel or school administrators in any position that requires direct contact with students."
No. Volunteers would not be considered K-12 staff and would not fall under the definition of "instructional personnel and school administrators."
If a person has no previous employment history, the private school would be unable to contact a previous employer as required in s. 1002.421(4)(c), F.S. Therefore, the private school should document its inability to contact a previous employer and include this documentation in the employee's file. The private school should still screen the individual using the Professional Practices Database of Disciplinary Actions and the Teacher Certification Database (BEC-PASS) and document the findings in the employee's file.
If there are no results listed for an individual, the private school should print the page that appears with the categories listed.
Aftercare workers who are not offering instruction would not be considered "instructional personnel" and would not be subject to the same requirements as other teaching staff. However, if aftercare workers are employees or contracted personnel who have unsupervised access to scholarship students for whom the private school is responsible, the employees must still undergo the level 2 fingerprinting process through VECHS. The private school must review the fingerprint results under s. 435.04, F.S., but would not be required to review the fingerprint results under s. 1012.315, F.S.
*** Please note that the Department shall immediately suspend the payment of scholarship funds to a participating private school that knowingly fails to comply with these requirements. In certain cases, Florida law also requires the Department to prohibit the school from enrolling new scholarship students for one fiscal year and until the school complies. ***
Tutorial
