MOST EMPLOYERS do not have the power to request criminal history checks on applicants and employees from the computerized records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). North Carolina public school systems, along with a small list of other employers do have that power.

These searches are authorized by two separate pro- visions in the North Carolina General Statutes (hereinafter G.S.): a 1991 law that is not found in Chapter 115C and a 1995 law that is found in Chapter 115C. Searches under these statutes are conducted not by employees of the board of education or by private companies contracted with by the board, but by officials of the state and federal departments of justice. The report received as a result of the search is not a public record but a computer printout of criminal history information. Under federal and state law, use and dissemination of that information is limited.