DENVER—With no debate and no dissent, the Colorado House gave initial approval Friday to a bill that would require teachers convicted of child abuse or unlawful sexual behavior to agree never to teach again anywhere in this country.
One lawmaker read a long list of accusations against teachers in Colorado for assaulting children, then noted those cases occurred in just one month.
“It’s in law right now that information about crimes of violence against a child shall be shared among the school districts and the Department of Education. It’s not taking place. Kids are getting hurt,” said Rep. Gwyn Green, D-Golden.
Green said teachers have resigned after sexual misconduct with students and then gone on to molest other children at other schools because they were not subjected to proper background checks.
She said school districts do background checks when teachers are hired, but the state currently has no way to determine if teachers are accused of misconduct or committed a crime after they were hired. Her bill (House Bill 1344) would require the school district to notify the Department of Education if the teacher resigns or is dismissed because of unlawful conduct with a child.
Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, said too many teachers are allowed to sign settlement agreements allowing them to avoid a disciplinary hearing before the Board of Education and continue to teach in private schools or universities, even though they were accused of serious crimes and can no longer teach in Colorado public schools.
Gardner introduced an amendment that would require the department to release the names of teachers and school employees convicted of child abuse or unlawful sexual behavior if it denies, annuls, suspends or revokes a teaching license.
The amendment also stipulates that if a teacher signs a settlement agreement with the Department of Education, the teacher must agree to never teach at a public or private school in this country.
Before the bill passed, Gardner read newspaper headlines from 11 cases in February where teachers had been accused in serious crimes. The cases included an elementary school teacher in Douglas County accused of taking showers with underage children, an elementary school teacher in Montrose placed on administrative leave after being accused of abusing an autistic student, a substitute teacher in Colorado Springs accused of offering a high school student money for sex and a middle school teacher in Loveland accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.
“This in one month from the state of Colorado,” Gardner told his colleagues.
Several lawmakers in the House Judiciary Committee objected to the bill, saying it places an undue burden on rural districts that need to find substitute teachers. The full House passed it without debate or dissent.
The bill must pass a third reading before it can move to the Senate.
A report to the state Board of Education last month showed that 293 disciplinary actions were taken against Colorado teachers from 1998 to 2007, including 51 sexual assaults on children and four sexual assaults involving adults.
The number of incidents increased sharply the past few years, the report showed.
According to records obtained by The Associated Press under the Colorado Open Records Act, the board over the past decade has signed settlement agreements with teachers convicted of serious crimes that allowed them to return to the classroom, even though the crimes included sexual assault on children.
The records show the board agreed to keep crucial details secret in some instances, including the case of a Northglenn teacher convicted of allowing a minor to consume alcohol and sexual assault on a child. The teacher received a two-year suspension, but the settlement agreement lists only the state statutes he violated, without saying what happened or where.
The board said the Legislature changed the law in 2003 to require the board to discipline teachers convicted of felony violent crimes.
The board also said a nonviolent felony conviction does not automatically disqualify a teacher from returning to the classroom under state law.
