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School Employee Background Checks

Act 153 of 2014 requires school employees to provide or renew State Police/FBI record checks and child abuse clearance statements. Additional changes to the law went into effect July 1, 2015. PSEA wants to ensure that all members understand how this policy affects them.

Guidelines

  • Check your files or your school employer files to find the dates of your CLEARANCE STATEMENT, STATE POLICE REPORT, AND FBI REPORT.  
  • Depending on your date of hire, you may not have all three documents, or they may have been issued on different dates. 
  • If you are missing ONE OF THE THREE BACKGROUND CHECKS: You should obtain that document when you renew the others. 

Portability
School employees who obtain background checks for employment purposes can use the same background checks for volunteer activities with children. School employees also may use their current background checks when applying for employment from other school employers.

Questions
PSEA members who have questions about the renewal requirements should contact their PSEA UniServ Representative.

Deadlines

Each document renewal is due by its five-year anniversary date of issue. Note: It is possible that school employers may require employees to renew all documents by the earliest five-year anniversary of any one document.

If you have no background checks because you have been continuously employed prior to Jan. 1, 1986 (the first date a background check was required):
You must obtain all three documents ASAP.

How to Obtain Background Checks

Clearance Statements:
As of Dec. 31, 2014, requests for clearance statements (now called "certifications") may be made online at https://www.compass.state.pa.us/CWIS at a cost of $13. Paper submissions of the clearance statement request form (CY113 Form) may be accessed via the Department of Human Services (DHS) website and mailed to the ChildLine and Abuse Registry, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, P.O. Box 8170, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8170. Download and print the form: English version/Spanish version. 

Pennsylvania State Police Reports:
Pennsylvania state reports cost approximately $22 and may be secured online using the state police website, or by accessing Form SP4-164 on the state police website and mailing the request form to Pennsylvania State Police Central Repository-164, 1800 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9758. Questions about State Police checks may be directed to 1-888-QUERYPA (1-888-783-7972). Download and print the form here. 

FBI Reports:
To request FBI reports, costing approximately $25. Find application forms and instructions at https://uenroll.identogo.com/ or by calling 1-844-321-2101, M-F, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. EST. Be advised the FBI fingerprint link will take you to a screen that asks for a service code.

If you need a clearance code, please contact the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the appropriate service codes. You may e-mail them at RA-PDE-SCHOOLSERVICE@pa.gov.

Under Act 114 of 2006, ALL prospective school employees, school contractors and student teachers are to use the Pennsylvania Department of Education system. This includes but is not limited to: Teachers, School Administrators, Substitute Teachers, Teaching Assistants, PIAA Sports Officials, School Bus Drivers, and Student Teachers. For more information regarding Act 114, and background check requirements for public schools, private schools and student teachers go to the Pennsylvania Department of Education website or email the Pennsylvania Department of Education. 

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