On Tuesday, State School Superintendent Nancy Grasmick defended her department to legislators reviewing a state audit that said the department was lax in reviewing teacher certifications for convicted sex offenders.
A state audit of the Maryland Department of Education found that certifications for 11 convicted sex offenders were not terminated in 2005, and that there were no assurances that convicted individuals were prevented from working in schools.
“We do 100,000 certifications a year that we haveto keep track of,” Grasmick said, including 25,000 new certifications of teachers each school year.
“We?re not the employer,” Grasmick pointed out, the local school systems are. “The local school systems have to submit the paperwork to us.”
Grasmick said the department had taken steps to rectify the deficiencies found by the legislative auditor. State officials are also working with the Attorney General?s Office to develop more regulations for local school systems.
The audit found that seven of the 11 certified teachers that had been convicted of sex offenses did not have their certifications terminated because the local systems failed to notify state officials of the convictions.
State auditors were also critical of the department?s lack of procedures “to ensure that nonpublic schools complied with criminal background check requirements,” the report said. But the education department said state law did not authorize it to monitor the nonpublic schools.
In response to that problem, at the department?s request, the Assembly passed a law that prohibits any school from employing an individual convicted of child sexual abuse or other crimes of violence. The department will begin enforcing that legislation for private schools this year.
State auditors were also critical of the way the department enforced compliance of teacher certification for the No Child Left Behind Act, that requires a higher percentage of highly qualified teachers.
Grasmick and her deputies were questioned by senators and delegates on the Joint Audit Committee.
“Think of the resources of this department,” in judging the department, Grasmick said.
“You can be helpful to us. We?re always into continuous improvement.”
“Give us an opportunity to say yes” to budget requests, said Del. Charles Barkley, co-chairman of the audit committee.
“You can ask all you want, but you still have to have the money,” said Sen. Patrick J. Hogan, vice chairman of the Budget Committee.
After the hearing, Grasmick said, “these things are so minor” in an agency with $6 billion budget. “This is a good audit.”
