Title 16 — Title 16

Education and Independent School System; Mental Health Services. (a) Subject to appropriations by the Legislature, commencing with the 2023-2024 school year, each local board of education in the state shall employ a mental health service coordinator. The coordinator shall be resp…

(a) When used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings, respectively: (1) EMPLOYEE. Any person employed full-time as provided by law by those employers enumerated in this section and adult bus drivers. (2) EMPLOYER. All public city and county boards …

(a) Public elementary and secondary school counselors who were certified as nationally certified school counselors by the National Board for Certified Counselors prior to January 1, 2003, shall receive the same annual stipend or supplement as is provided for public school counsel…

Commencing on January 1, 2013, any public elementary or secondary school principal who receives national board certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards shall receive the same annual stipend or supplement as is provided for public school teachers a…

and Blind - Extension of Jurisdiction. (a) Any police officer appointed pursuant to the provisions of Section 16-47-10 or 16-22-1, is a peace officer whose authority extends to any place in the state; provided, that the primary duty of any such police or peace officer shall be th…

(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the K-12 Technology and Cybersecurity Leadership Act. (b)(1) The position of technology coordinator in public K-12 schools is renamed technology director and must be filled by an employee of the local board of education on a 12-…

Tuberculosis. It shall be unlawful for school authorities to employ teachers, janitors, food handlers or bus drivers who have tuberculosis in an infectious stage. Every board of education shall require a physical examination for tuberculosis, including adequate laboratory tests a…

All bonds of officials and employees required under the provisions of this title shall be executed by a surety company authorized to do business in Alabama and, unless otherwise provided, approved by the State Superintendent of Education. The said bonds shall, unless otherwise pr…

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) CERTIFICATED PERSONNEL. Full-time teachers, principals, and other education employees employed by a local board of education and required to hold a certificate issued by the State Sup…

Group Insurance; Payment of Insurance Premiums. Each local board of education may form its employees into a group or groups or recognize existing groups for the purpose of obtaining the advantages of group life, disability, medical and dental insurance or any group insurance plan…

Be Made; Application. (a) Each local board of education and certain postsecondary institutions shall adopt policies or regulations which will provide for deductions from salaries of its employees or groups of employees whenever a request is presented to the board or postsecondary…

Program Not Affected. Payments and deductions made by the board of education under the authority of Sections 16-22-5 and 16-22-6 are presumed to be for services rendered and for the benefit of the public school; and the payments and deductions do not affect the eligibility of any…

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that the annual allotments for hospital medical insurance made to educational personnel may be used to purchase dental insurance. (b) Local boards of education shall approve the plan and carrier for dental coverage. Employee review and eval…

523) [Effective until July 1, 2026.] AMENDED BY ACT 2026-523, EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2026. SEE ACT FOR REVISED LANGUAGE. (a) The following terms shall have the following meanings, respectively: (1) CATASTROPHIC ILLNESS. Any illness, injury, or pregnancy or medical condition related to…

This chapter shall be known and cited as the Alabama Child Protection Act of 1999. Article 1 provides the procedure for conducting criminal history background information checks on all applicants for certification, public and nonpublic applicants for employment, nonpublic current…

(a)(1) Any criminal history background information reports received by the State Department of Education from the Department of Public Safety shall be confidential, conspicuously marked as confidential, and not further disclosed or made available for public inspection. (2) Any cr…

The State Department of Education and the Department of Public Safety may adopt rules and regulations to implement the procedures and requirements of this chapter. History: (Act 99-361, p. 566, §11.)

(a) Violations. Any person convicted of any of the following actions under this chapter shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor: (1) Violating the confidentiality of records provisions. (2) Violating lawfully adopted policies which are provided for in this chapter. (3) Knowingly…

An authorized employer shall not be liable in any action for damages solely for failure to conduct a criminal history background information check on an educational employee pursuant to this chapter if such failure is due to reasonable time constraints of background check backlog…

If a nonpublic school wishes not to do the fingerprinting procedure of their applicants, current employees, or current employees under review, they shall not be required to do so, then the applicant for nonpublic employment, nonpublic current employee, or nonpublic current employ…

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to any pastor, priest, rabbi, clergyman, or other church official except when acting in the capacity of a full-time regular classroom teacher. History: (Act 99-361, p. 566, §15; Act 2002-457, p. 1171, §1.)

Except as expressly specified in this chapter pertaining to criminal history background information checks of applicants for nonpublic employment, nonpublic current employees, and nonpublic current employees under review, nothing in this chapter shall be construed to establish st…

All fees received by the Department of Public Safety for criminal history background information checks and fingerprint training courses conducted pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited to the Public Safety Automated Fingerprint Identification System Fund, to be appropriated…

This chapter is supplementary to and shall be construed in pari materia with other laws. To the extent that this chapter specifically conflicts with other laws pertaining to criminal history background information checks, this chapter shall take precedence. Nothing contained with…

Under the National Child Protection Act of 1993, Public Law 103-209, 42 U.S.C. 5119, et seq., the states are required to implement a computerized information system to provide child abuse crime information through the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Criminal History Reco…

When used in this chapter only, the following terms shall have the following meanings, respectively, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: (1) APPLICANT. A certified or noncertified individual who submits an application for employment to a local employing board or any n…

(a) A criminal history background information check shall be conducted on all current public certified employees and all current public noncertified employees employed by a local employing board, and any State Department of Education personnel, as determined by the State Superint…

(a) The following persons shall obtain a signed and dated written consent to obtain criminal history background information checks for current public certified employees and current public noncertified employees who have or seek to have unsupervised access to children in an educa…

(a) Each local employing board and other public educational entity required to obtain criminal history background information checks of current public certified employees and current public noncertified employees pursuant to this article shall cooperate with the State Department …

Upon request of the State Superintendent of Education, the Department of Public Safety shall request and obtain nationwide criminal history background information reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and statewide criminal history background information reports from t…

(a) The requirement to conduct a criminal history background information check on public and nonpublic current employees pursuant to this chapter is contingent upon the State Superintendent of Education determining that sufficient funds have been appropriated by the Legislature o…

Any person who wishes to initiate a request for a criminal history background check of a current employee shall be required to provide a written signed statement to the designated chief executive officer of an authorized employer containing the reasonable articulable grounds supp…

Checks. (a) A criminal history background information check shall be conducted on all applicants seeking positions with, and on all current employees under review employed by any local employing board, and any State Department of Education personnel as determined by the State Sup…

Check. (a) The State Department of Education, or other public authorized employer responsible for hiring employees who will have unsupervised access to children in an educational setting, shall request through the State Department of Education, that the Department of Public Safet…

(a) An applicant for certification, applicant for public employment, or public current employee under review with the State Department of Education or local employing board, who has or will have unsupervised access to a child or children in an educational setting, shall, upon req…

(a) The Department of Public Safety and the State Department of Education shall cooperatively schedule sufficient training throughout the state to train all local superintendents of education, or their duly appointed representatives, in proper fingerprinting techniques. (b) The c…

(a) Local employing boards and other public authorized employers required to obtain criminal history background information checks under this chapter shall collect and forward to the State Department of Education, two complete acceptable sets of fingerprints, written consent, and…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the School Security Act. History: (Act 2024-356, §1.)

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) ALEA. The Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency. (2) BOARD. The State Board of Education, in consultation with the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency and the State Fire Marshal. (3) DEPARTMENT…

(a)(1) There is established the School Security Program. The board shall adopt rules to implement and administer the program pursuant to this chapter. (2) The board shall require that at least once every five years, the school facilities under the jurisdiction of each local board…

(a) A School Mapping Data Program is established within ALEA to provide accurate maps of each school in the state for use in the case of an emergency. ALEA shall adopt rules to implement and administer the program pursuant to this chapter. (b)(1) ALEA shall collaborate with local…

(a) Each local board of education shall designate an employee in the school district’s central office as the district safety coordinator. Each district safety coordinator must have direct access to the local superintendent of education and must have prior experience in crisis res…

(a) School security rubric ratings and school mapping data, including any information or records used to determine a rating or develop mapping data, are confidential and shall not be considered public records under Article 3 of Chapter 12 of Title 36. (b) This chapter may not be …

No person shall be employed in the public schools of the state as county superintendent of education, city superintendent of schools, assistant superintendent, supervisor, principal, teacher or attendance officer unless such person shall hold a certificate issued by the State Sup…

At the beginning of the institute it shall be the duty of the county superintendent of education or city superintendent of schools, as the case may be, to furnish the conductor of the institute, appointed by the State Superintendent of Education, on forms provided by the Departme…

It shall be unlawful for any county superintendent of education or any superintendent of city schools to place the name of any person, subject to institute attendance, on his payroll during the period of six months following the close of the institute so held, who at the time sai…

As a further means of improving teachers in service, the county superintendent of education or the city superintendent of schools shall arrange for and conduct conferences in convenient centers upon the courses of study or on problems of instruction, supervision and administratio…

In the conduct of institutes and group conferences as provided in this chapter, it is made the duty of the state-supported institutions of higher learning offering teacher- training courses to cooperate as far as practicable with the Department of Education in furthering training…

For the purpose of setting up standards for the preparation of teachers, supervisors and administrative employees for service in the public schools, the State Board of Education shall, subject to other provisions of this chapter, authorize and prescribe minimum requirements on co…

It shall be the duty of the State Superintendent of Education, or his professional assistants, to exercise general supervision over the teacher-training institutions under the control of the State Board of Education subject to other provisions of this chapter. The State Superinte…