BOE Background Check Bill to be Amended, Members Show Support

A bill to apply the same criminal background checks to Board of Education members that teachers must pass is headed back to the Assembly for changes urged by the state attorney general.

Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), one of the bill's main sponsors, said that while the bill has passed the Assembly, he has heard concerns from state Attorney General Paula Dow which will require some rewriting before the bill is sent to the Senate and Gov. Chris Christie. Bramnick said that Dow wanted to see the sections regarding second and third degree crimes changed with regard to school board members. He said this would change the standards.

Bramnick said that while he would prefer the standards for BOE members to be similar to those applied to teachers he believes the bill needs to be adopted in order to have the standards applied to those who are overseeing the work of teachers.

"My feeling has been that the standards we hold teachers to is the standard we should hold those who supervise them to," he said.

Under the bill, which was written by Bramnick and Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Plainfield), newly elected school board members would need to undergo a criminal background check after being elected to office. If they fail to meet the standards set in the law, they would be removed from their positions on the board. The current proposal calls for the BOE member to pay the cost of the background check which varies between $80 and $100 to complete.

The bill is being supported by the New Jersey School Boards Association, which noted in a statement on the legislation that the bill would supplement current law which requires board members to disclose prior criminal convictions. The NJSBA noted that with BOE members possibly having contact with students, it would be best to have them subjected to criminal background checks.

The NJSBA is lobbying the legislature to make additional amendments to the bill including shifting the cost for the criminal background checks from the BOE members to individual school districts and extending the law to trustees of charter schools. Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the NJSBA, said that with BOE members being prohibited by law from being compensated for their services, it was unfair to make them pay to serve on a school board. He said this could hinder some from being able to serve if they had to pay for the criminal background check.

The NJSBA is also lobbying for the background check to be applied to all elected officials statewide. The association would also like the legislation to include the requirement that all BOE candidates disclose past criminal convictions on their nominating petitions and in their annual disclosure statements.

The proposal has garnered support among members of the Westfield Board of Education. This is a difference from BOE members in Cranford, who objected to the cost of the measure, while saying they agree with the principle of the bill.

BOE member Richard Mattessich came closest to the Cranford statement, noting that he has studied the legislation and supports the aims of the proposal. He noted he would prefer the cost of the background check shifted to the state from the individual member.

BOE member Mitch Slater said he is in support of the bill and would not mind a background check.

BOE member Ginny Leiz, the board's longest serving member, said she supports the bill, noting that a BOE member should meet the standard of a teacher. She noted that she and other board members have to sign an annual ethics statement addressing such areas as honestly, integrity and confidentiality and a background check would be in line with that.

"I think it would be appropriate," she said. "Members have to take an oath of ethics. I would like to see that criteria applied to all elected officials."