The state Motor Vehicle Commission
and the Department of Education must standardize and reconcile
their systems of tracking disqualified school bus drivers, state
auditors contend, noting flagged drivers are still being listed
as eligible to transport children.
After checking records in both
agencies and interviewing employees between Nov. 1, 2007, and
Feb. 29 of this year, the Office of the State Auditor found seven
bus drivers, disqualified by state education officials because
they failed background checks, were still listed as qualified
in state motor vehicle records.
Additionally, the auditors contended
the commission, despite requirements under existing state law,
is not notifying education officials when it revokes a bus driver's
license for alcohol or drug offenses.
Employers, including schools and
bus companies that serve schools, also are not being notified,
according to the audit released to Gov. Jon Corzine and the Legislature
on Wednesday.
"To ensure the safety of school
age children in the state, we recommend that legislation be pursued
to standardize the qualification process for school bus drivers
to include federal and state background checks," the report said.
The Department of Education and
Motor Vehicle Commission were allowed to give written responses
to early drafts of the report. Education Commissioner Lucille
Davy and Sharon Harrington, chief administrator for the commission,
issued letters with the final copy agreeing that reforms are needed.
The audit report recommends centralizing
within the Department of Education the administration of background
checks and disqualification notices. It also recommends a periodic
reconciliation of department and commission school bus driver
data to ensure both agencies know when a driver is disqualified.
"It seems both agencies are agreeable
to doing this," Assistant State Auditor Thomas Meseroll said,
adding that even private schools could benefit from a centralized
effort.
Prospective and active school bus
drivers are required to submit to state and federal background
checks. Some private schools also follow those guidelines.
Currently, the education department
notifies the commission when an approval to drive children is
removed from a bus driver's license because of something found
by the education department's criminal history review unit. But
that data is not adequately processed in the commission's system.
In their letters to the state auditor,
the DOE and MVC said it must be determined which agency should
periodically reconcile the two, separate databases.
Davy, in the DOE letter, said that
department has moved forward with additional efforts to protect
students by accessing Department of Labor wage reporting records.
She said they will compare databases and identify people who have
been employed by educational facilities or authorized school bus
contractors, but who have not submitted to criminal history record
checks.
The education department is also
offering to help find people who have been disqualified from employment,
but who were not removed from the job or found employment elsewhere
without submitting to a criminal background check.