New ED-Commissioned Study on ESEA Provisions that Protect Students

Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) published a study concerning requirements under Section 8546 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) for states and schools to protect students from the consequences of assisting – or “aiding and abetting” – school employees in obtaining a new job if they are known or believed with probable cause to have engaged in sexual misconduct with a student or minor.

States must comply with these requirements. ED's study, along with a fact sheet and other supporting materials, are available here and may be helpful to states and schools in ensuring meaningful, ongoing compliance with Section 8546 requirements.

To underscore states’ obligations relative to Section 8546, ED will host a webinar for state and local leaders on July 20, 2022, to highlight important practices in the areas of employer disclosure and information-sharing among educational entities. We will update this post as further information including registration details becomes available.

Alongside these efforts, ED will monitor each state’s laws, regulations, or policies to determine compliance as it relates to Section 8546. We stand ready to work with states through training, differentiated technical assistance, and more intensive supports or enforcement actions as needed. These efforts to provide additional assistance respond directly to requests that states made as part of the study for ED to identify and disseminate examples of policies and practices that meet Section 8546 requirements.