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5 Year
Anniversary This Year
This year is the 5 year
anniversary of the Jessica Lunsford Act and most of our members,
specifically those that were fingerprinted when the law was first
implemented in 2005 will need to undergo the process again.
The following outlines the information we have gathered in
researching this issue, a link to the source documents are
provided in each section so you may form your own interpretation
of the data presented.
On July 1, 2010 the BCAA advised us of the new fingerprinting
process that is now in place via email
(copy of
notification). In short the document states the Broward
School Board has outsourced the fingerprinting function to
L-1
Identity Solutions and outlines the new price structure:
Broward Background Check
Fee Schedule |
|
New Applicants |
$94.50 |
Yearly Renewals
(after the first year) |
$20.00 |
Checking The FSSR
(Florida Shared School
Results) |
$20.00 |
The Cost To
Broward Officials Is Now $174.50 For A 5 Year Period
|
Once every 5 Years |
$94.50 |
|
2nd Year Renewal Fee |
$20.00 |
|
3rd Year Renewal Fee |
$20.00 |
|
4th Year Renewal Fee |
$20.00 |
|
5th Year Renewal Fee |
$20.00 |
|
Total Cost for 5
Years |
$174.50 |
After initial
sticker shock, we got this explanation, and breakdown of
the initial 1st year costs from Broward Schools (SBBC)
|
FDLE / FBI fee |
$43.25 |
|
Retention fee |
$24.00 |
|
SBBC fee |
$14.25 |
|
L-1 Identity fee |
$13.00 |
|
Total Paid by Officials |
$94.50 |
What the Statute 1012.467 Says
All officiating associations
in the state must comply with the statute so we had questions as to
what other associations paid in their counties. We also
checked the actual Florida Statute that outlines and establishes the
fingerprinting requirement. The original statute was enacted
in 2005, and then refined in 2007 to adjust problems and concerns
that surfaced in the original law. Here is the pertinent
wording of the 2007 update in statute 1012.467
(link to Statute 1012.467).
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(2)(a) A
fingerprint-based criminal history check shall be performed on each
noninstructional contractor who is permitted access to school
grounds when students are present, whose performance of the contract
with the school or school board is not anticipated to result in
direct contact with students, and for whom any unanticipated contact
would be infrequent and incidental. Criminal history checks shall be
performed at least once every 5 years. For the initial criminal
history check, each noninstructional contractor who is subject to
the criminal history check shall file with the Department of Law
Enforcement a complete set of fingerprints taken by an authorized
law enforcement agency or an employee of a school district, a public
school, or a private company who is trained to take fingerprints.
The fingerprints shall be electronically submitted for state
processing to the Department of Law Enforcement, which shall in turn
submit the fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for
national processing. The results of each criminal history check
shall be reported to the school district in which the individual is
seeking access and entered into the shared system described in
subsection (7). The school district shall screen the results using
the disqualifying offenses in paragraph (g). The cost of the
criminal history check may be borne by the district school board,
the school, or the contractor. A fee that
is charged by a district school board for such checks may not exceed
30 percent of the total amount charged by the Department of Law
Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. |
FDLE - Documented Costs
After reading the actual statute it
seemed clear the maximum allowable price is
established as the cost charged by the FDLE (Florida Department of
Law Enforcement) plus 30%. So we researched and documented
the current actual FDLE cost to the school board, which is readily
available, published, and, in effect statewide.
(link to FDLE Price Fact Sheet)
FDLE Charge For Level 2
State and National Background Checks |
|
State Fee |
$24.00 |
|
Federal Fee |
$19.25 |
4 Year Retention Fee
($6 per year) |
$24.00 |
|
Total FDLE Charge |
$67.25 |
|
30% of $67.25 |
$20.18 |
|
FDLE Cost plus 30% |
$87.43 |
FSSR - Florida Shared School
Results
FSSR - is a system
implemented by statute to alleviate a problem that officials and
contractors encountered with the original statute. As
originally implemented in 2005 the Jessica Lunsford Act required
officials and contractors that worked for more than one county to
register and pay separate background check fees to each county in
which they worked. The 2007 statute update corrected this
problem by creating the FSSR database that allows schools to share
background check results with other counties. So the
individual official or contractor only has to pay the background
check fees once. The new Broward published fee for checking
the FSSR database if an official has their background check done in another
county:
What statute 1012.467
says about requesting an FSSR check of a previous background check:
(link to Statute 1012.467)
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(f) A
noninstructional contractor who is subject to a criminal
history check under this section shall inform a school
district that he or she has completed a criminal history check
in another school district within the last 5 years. The school
district shall verify the results of the contractor's criminal
history check using the shared system described in subsection
(7). The school district may not
charge the contractor a fee for verifying the results of his
or her criminal history check. |
"RENEWAL" Fee
The new Broward Schools
background check policy specifies a "RENEWAL" fee every year, after
the first year. It is our understanding that you will be issued
a new badge every year at renewal.
|
Yearly Renewal Fee |
$20.00 |
Yearly "RENEWAL" fees, are not
mentioned in the statute.
Fees In Other Counties
We have documented a
sampling of the following background check fees in Florida
counties:
Email Comments From Other Florida
Official's Associations
In addition
we sent email requests to associations regarding procedures in
their county and received these replies:
West Coast Officials Association
(Tampa)
Our total cost in
Hillsborough County is $86.00 for a five year period. It appears
there is still no uniformity among the school districts. We only
work in two counties, but I am still having trouble coordinating
between the two of them.
Good luck with solving your problem.
Thom Powers
President WCOA
Central
Florida Officials Association (Cocoa Beach)
We have 4 counties
$82.50------$103.00....depends on the county the person goes to...
2 of the counties give badges even though you don't need one so
they charge you... the 2 that don't give badges are $82.50...and
we don't need badges anywhere.. just a picture ID.......that's for
5 years...
Jeff Deen
President CFOA
Greater Miami Athletic Association (Miami)
Our out-of-pocket cost
through MDCPS fingerprinting office is $77 and change (I don't
remember the exact amount).
We are asking those who are up for renewal (most of the members)
to have their prints done by Spring Football.
No new clearance, no Spring game assignment.
The renewal is for 5 years, no additional cost to members.
Strive to be the BEST
Thumz zup,
Joe Underwood, EdD, NBCT
Southern
Independent Conference Officials Association (St. Petersburg)
SICOA uses Pasco County
School District.
The cost is $86.00 total for five years.
Good Luck!
John Walters
SICOA
Mid-Coast Officials Association
(Melbourne)
The cost was $90 for the initial screening. Brevard county has not
implemented any yearly renewal screenings, and furthermore Brevard
has not brought up the 5 year rescreening either. So at this point
the only cost has been the $90 initial screening fee.
Steve O'Neill
President
Palm Beach County
For the Palm Beach
County School District, sports officials are charged an initial
fingerprint fee of $47 (a special “reduced” rate for a first time
sports official in our schools).
NOTE: The “normal” fingerprint fee for the School District has
been
Increased for teachers, substitutes, etc. to $99.
Each year there is a $6 renewal fee. Those have been the only
charges so far.
Initially it was discussed that every 5 years officials were to be
re-fingerprinted.
This has not come up recently. Maybe the $6 renewal each year
covers that
It is my understanding that the Palm Beach County School Police
will
check the Shared School Results (FSSR) for officials who have
already been
fingerprinted in another county for the involved school year. They
should
not have to be fingerprinted in both counties.
Hope that answers your questions. If not, please let me know.
Yetta Green
Assignor
North Florida Officials (Jacksonville)
I am the commissioner of the North Florida Football Officials up here in
the Jacksonville area. The breakdown on what Duval County is
charging us is an initial fee of $97.25 in the first year. This is
broken down as follows: $63.25 for the fingerprinting fee, $24 for
the FDLE to retain the finger prints for an additional 4 years
after the initial year, and a $10 fee to Duval County for some
sort of badge that they want us to have to come onto their
property. They then want us to renew the badge every year for $12.
The badge is not part of the JLA but rather a Duval County policy.
Please keep me updated on your situation. Thanks.
Brad Kennington |