Do Not Hire Registry
To enhance efforts for protection and welfare of Texas students, House Bill 3 (HB3, Article 2A) brought us new HR reporting requirements, one of which was the charge for TEA to create and maintain a new internet portal, a “Do Not Hire Registry.” The purpose of this registry is to list persons (certified and non-certified) who are ineligible for hire based on misconduct or criminal history.
Schools are required to check this registry prior to hiring any employee and to refuse to hire those whose are listed on the registry. Furthermore, schools are required to discharge those already employed if they are a person listed on the registry. Noncompliance is considered a violation of charter and enforced by TEA as such.
In addition to checking all employees through the DNHRegistry, TEA has clarified that student teachers should also be checked. When it comes to checking volunteers and/or contractors, TEA has indicated that the registry should NOT be used for those who don’t have access to students but that it CAN be used for those who have access to students.
The availability of the registry is right on schedule! TEA announced the availability of the new portal on January 6, 2020. This portal is housed in TEAL under the application name “Registry of Persons Not Eligible for Employment.” The online registry is anticipated to be available to anyone for public use in March 2020.
As a supporting resource, you may find it helpful to know these SBEC definitions to interpret the results from the registry: https://secure.sbec.state.tx.us/SBECONLINE/terms.asp
TEA also shared some great resources applicable to the registry.
From TEA:
Please note that TEAL and the Registry should be accessed with Google Chrome as your browser. If you already have a TEAL login, and have been granted access to other applications such as the Educator Certification Online System (ECOS), the process for adding access to the Do Not Hire Registry begins on Page 9 of the Process Document.