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Teachers who sexually abuse children would have their education licenses permanently revoked under a bill that unanimously passed in the House on Tuesday.
The effort by Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, comes in the wake of a national Associated Press investigation. The series published in October found 2,570 educators whose teaching credentials were revoked, denied, surrendered or sanctioned from 2001 through 2005 following allegations of sexual misconduct. Experts who track sexual abuse say those cases are representative of a much deeper problem. Upon learning the results of the AP investigation, Wimmer said he was shocked to learn that Utah ranked 16th nationally in the total number of teacher sanctions issued because of sexual misconduct. From 2001 through 2005, the state board suspended or revoked 108 teacher licenses. Of those, 57 were the result of sexual misconduct, including sexual relations with students, viewing pornography at school or criminal charges tied to off-campus sex crimes involving children. Utah's incident rate is more than double the national average and nearly 75 percent of Utah's sexual misconduct cases involving students or other minors involved physical contact. Utah is among 15 states considering stronger oversight and tougher punishment for educators who take advantage of their students. Wimmer pointed to a recent case of a local teacher who was charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse of a child as a reason tougher penalties are needed. "He's in prison and his license has been revoked for what they say is about 25 years. The odds of him ever being able to teach in this state are slim to none, and I want to make sure it's none," Wimmer said. House Bill 286 passed in the House 68-0 and will now be heard in the Senate, where no opposition is expected. |
