Education and law enforcement officials at the state level are expanding efforts to help local schools that want to conduct criminal background checks on current or prospective employees, Gov. Mel Carnahan announced.

For the past year the Missouri Highway Patrol and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education have worked together to assist schools by performing computerized background checks on all public-school employees who hold teaching certificates. The Division of Family Services also assists in the efforts.

When cross-checking of computer file turns up a "match" between a certificated teacher and a person convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanor, state education officials conduct further investigations and may initiate proceedings to revoke that person's teaching certificate.

Now, an expanded screening service is in place so any Missouri school will be able to request a comprehensive multistate background check through the nationwide FBI system. Each search costs $22, and the service will be offered to any public or private school and to teacher-training institutions.

"I am pleased that local schools are developing tighter screening procedures for prospective employees and focusing more attention on the potential threat of misconduct by school employees," said Carnahan. "This expanded screening service is one more step in our efforts to assure the safety of Missouri children."

Carnahan said that because of increased public concern about teacher misconduct, many school districts are strengthening their pre-employment screening procedures. Recently, some school districts have also requested the state's assistance in screening all current employees.

To obtain the expanded screening service, a school or school district must secure two sets of fingerprints from each employee to be checked. The department of education will submit the records to the highway patrol for processing through the FBI system.

Schools also may request free background checks which are limited to open records concerning Missouri residents. In this process, schools may submit names to the department of education and have them cross-checked against records maintained by the highway department and Division of Family Services.

DFS will provide information on those people with open records of substantiated child abuse or neglect.