Toomey Works to Protect Children of Service Members from Pedophiles

Washington, D.C. - As part of his tireless efforts to protect America's children from pedophiles and other dangerous criminals, U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) has introduced a bill to safeguard the children of our men and women in the military.

Sen. Toomey's legislation, the Protecting Our Service Members' Children from Sexual and Violent Predators Act, requires certain Department of Defense-operated schools and those school districts that receive federal Impact Aid to conduct criminal background checks on school employees. Modeled on bipartisan child-protection legislation that Sen. Toomey introduced earlier this Congress, the proposal requires criminal background checks on all school workers who have unsupervised access to children-current and prospective workers, employees, and contractors. In addition, these background checks must be thorough, covering two federal and two state databases, and must be repeated periodically.

"When I put my children on the school bus, I have every right to expect that I am sending them somewhere safe, surrounded by adults who will care for them," said Sen. Toomey. "When military men and women send their kids to school-whether on or off the base-they deserve no less. These service members sacrifice to defend our nation and protect our freedom, and during potentially dangerous missions or training, they should not have to worry about whether their children are safe at school.

"Yet, we know that too often, our children are not safe. In 2014, at least 459 teachers and other school workers were arrested for sexual misconduct with children. Last year that number jumped to 496. Stopping these predators is a moral imperative. This is something we know we can do to protect our children from convicted child molesters and other dangerous criminals. So what are we waiting for?"

The Pentagon provides hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for elementary and secondary schools in America. This includes funding for elementary and secondary schools that the Department of Defense operates for military dependents and funding under the Impact Aid program-a program designed to offset costs imposed on school districts for educating the children of members of the military, who are exempt from property taxes. Nationwide, 17 percent of school children attend either a Department of Defense operated school or a school in a district receiving Impact Aid.

BACKGROUND: A bill first introduced in 2013 by Senators Toomey and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), the Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act, had two parts.

First, that bipartisan bill required schools receiving federal funds to perform background checks on all new and existing workers who have unsupervised access to children. This includes those substitute teachers, coaches, classroom aides, and bus drivers hired as contractors, and currently are not subject to background checks in 12 states. The background checks must be thorough, covering two state and two federal databases.

Second, the bill also banned the terrible practice of a school allowing a child molester to resign quietly and helping the predator find a new teaching job elsewhere-- a practice so common it has its own moniker, "passing the trash."

The "passing the trash" provision became law last December, when President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act into law.
Sen. Toomey pledged to continue fighting to enact uniform background checks for our schools to prevent the employment of convicted pedophiles and other dangerous criminals. Today's legislation marks one step in that fight.

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