Moskowitz, Fry Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Expand Nationwide Background Checks for School Workers

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressmen Jared Moskowitz (D-FL-23) and Russell Fry (R-SC-07) introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen protection for children at Florida schools. Their Comprehensive Health & Integrity in Licensing and Documentation (CHILD) Act of 2025would amend the National Child Protection Act of 1993 to ensure all individuals under contract with a school would be covered under mandatory nationwide background check policies that already cover other caretakers. 

Joining Moskowitz and Fry on their CHILD Act of 2025 are Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who are introducing the Senate companion and lead the Senate Judiciary Committee as Ranking Member and Chairman.

“Parents shouldn’t have any question that the teachers, staff, and other personnel taking care of their kids at school have been thoroughly vetted. That’s why I’m helping lead the CHILD Act, a bipartisan bill to fix an oversight in the law and ensure contractors who work with kids are subject to nationwide background checks. It’s the right thing to do for our kids and a commonsense fix to help keep our schools safe,” said Congressman Moskowitz.

“This is about consistency and accountability,” said Congressman Fry. “Parents shouldn’t have to wonder if individuals who have unsupervised contact with their kids, such as after-school tutors, nurses, school bus drivers, transportation providers, or other contracted personnel, have been fully vetted or not. The CHILD Act would fix this loophole and provide parents with peace of mind and students with a safe environment.”

Moskowitz, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, has already introduced multiple pieces of legislation this Congress to strengthen safety at Florida schools. In advance of February’s seven-year mark since the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, he announced his bipartisan Measures for Safer School Districts (MSD) Act to improve emergency notification systems and bolster interior and exterior doors at schools; bipartisan Single Application for School Safety (SASS) Actto streamline the federal grant application process for school safety funding; and bipartisan EAGLES Act to establish a national program on targeted violence prevention at schools. He is also leading the bipartisan ALYSSA Actto require silent panic alarms in all schools and the bipartisan Strengthening Our Schools (SOS) Actto invest in School Resource Officers. All are commonsense measures to ensure schools are better prepared to keep students safe in the case of emergency.

The CHILD Act is endorsed by Students Against Destructive Decisions; Student Transportation & Education Equity; Roundtable; Parents Helping Parents, Inc.; National Diversity Coalition; RaisingHOPE, Inc.; National Center on Adoption & Permanency; HopSkipDrive; and Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE).

For more information on the CHILD Act of 2025 from Moskowitz and Fry, click HERE.

###