The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas has filed a “friend of the court” (amicus) brief in support of a Kindergarten teacher who had her teaching certificate suspended last year by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) after she declined to provide fingerprints for a criminal background check. The agency began the process of fingerprinting teachers in 2008, shortly after a law requiring more detailed criminal background checks for professional educators went into effect.
Pam McLaurin, a 20-year teacher in Big Sandy ISD, refused to be fingerprinted because of her religious beliefs and has requested a temporary injunction in Travis County District Court. The ACLU contends that McLaurin’s religious conduct and expression is protected by the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
McLaurin offered to submit to an alternate, name-based criminal background check, an offer TEA rejected because McLaurin refused to submit to fingerprinting as the law requires. McLaurin contends that the agency has granted exceptions for other educators and that by being fingerprinted she would “bear the mark of the beast.”
TEA has made exceptions for educators who, in an effort to comply with the law, tried to provide fingerprints but couldn’t because they literally can’t be fingerprinted. In cases where a person’s work or burns to the hands render his or her fingerprints indistinguishable for identity purposes, TEA requests a name-based check from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). But the FBI will only provide this alternative check after the requesting agency submits the fingerprints of the individual in question twice and both sets are rejected due to an inability to obtain a readable scan.
TEA contends that there is no “less restrictive” means, other than fingerprinting, of complying with the law, which was put in place to help the state obtain the best possible criminal background check for all public school teachers.
McLaurin contends that the fingerprinting law “interferes with the exercise of Plaintiff’s religious practrices by compelling her to submit to fingerprinting.” The agency says it is not “compelling” McLaurin to do anything, and that if, by her own choosing, she decides she wants to continue teaching in Texas public schools, all she has to do is submit fingerprints to the State Board for Educator Certification so it can conduct a criminal background check as a condition of employment.
