Co-Sponsorship Memo Details

There are many individuals throughout our communities here in the Commonwealth who generously volunteer their time and effort to assist our local school districts.  Since they are unpaid workers, we should be doing everything we can to make sure they are not incurring unnecessary additional expenses and, in the process, discouraging others from volunteering.

In the near future, I will be re-introducing legislation intended to encourage volunteerism in our public schools. Under current law, prospective employees and volunteers are subjected to three different background checks that are a good means to ensure the safety of our children. Some schools require volunteers to pay for the costs of their own background checks.

I feel that this could discourage some families, particularly those of lesser means, from volunteering their time at their child’s school. This initiative could minimize the barriers to getting the whole family involved in a child’s education and volunteers in our schools would free up valuable resources (like teachers) for other purposes.

My proposed legislation would prohibit schools from requiring volunteers to pay for their own background checks. However, since I don’t want to put another ”unfunded mandate” on our schools, my proposed legislation also requires the state to reimburse school districts for the cost of these background checks.

Two bills will be needed to accomplish this proposal.  Last Session’s bills are attached.