SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Illinois ranks near the bottom in the nation when it comes to checking teacher backgrounds and yanking the credentials of problem educators, a newspaper analysis shows.

Illinois ranks 49th for the rate at which it suspends or revokes teaching certificates, according to an analysis by Small Newspaper Group. In 2004, it became the 46th state to require FBI background checks for incoming teachers – but most teachers hired before that are exempt.

All this has some people worried that Illinois could be a haven for teachers with criminal pasts.

“The people we are entrusting with our children’s well-being should have to go through the same battery of screening much like law enforcement officers undergo to deem them fit to serve,” said Terri Miller, president of the national group Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation.

Currently, educators who switch districts undergo FBI background checks. Miller advocates periodic background checks throughout a teacher’s career, as well as psychiatric evaluations and polygraph tests.

“This type of scrutiny will weed out many bad apples simply because they will not subject themselves to this level of screening,” Miller said.

The newspaper group reported that its investigation found examples of licensed Illinois educators who had been convicted of crimes, including a school counselor convicted of sexual battery and suburban Chicago teacher convicted for assault after shooting two people.

In other instances, no action was taken to suspend or revoke the teaching certificate of an educator who was fired after school officials learned of his previous convictions for theft and marijuana possession.