To the VDOE and Board of Educators,

I am the School Director of Resurrection Lutheran School in Newport News.  We currently serve 124 6 week old - through 12 year olds and have 39 staff members.  In June we will be expanding into a new building with a capacity of 250 and 55 staff members. 

I want to express my strong support for the repeal of the background check fee requirements.  There has not been a fee for this for my entire tenure at this site and we were always appreciative of that because there are very high fees often associated for out of state background checks and the cost of onboarding and qualifying staff for this field is often expensive.  Many centers pay for this fee because the applicants that work in this field simply can't afford that upfront. 

Turnover and staff retention are at an industry high in the last 5 years and this just is not the time, if ever, to implement what would be and astronomical impact to many centers.  A lower fee, say $25 or so, may have been more palatable but still would have caused fiscal struggles to providers. 

I especially think non-profit and subsidized centers should not have to pay the full amount or there should have been a gradual increase not the shocking jump from $0 to $70.

Respectfully,

Melanie Mesick

School Director, RLS