(a) The State Department of Education, or other public authorized employer responsible for hiring employees who will have unsupervised access to children in an educational setting, shall request through the State Department of Education, that the Department of Public Safety secure from both the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation a criminal history background information check on each applicant for certification, certified applicant for public employment, noncertified applicant for public employment, and public current employee under review.

(b) Any nonpublic school in which an individual may have unsupervised access to children in an educational setting, shall through its duly authorized representative under guidelines established by the nonpublic school employer, request that the Department of Public Safety secure a state criminal history background information check from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and a nationwide criminal history background information check from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on each applicant for nonpublic employment, nonpublic current employee, and nonpublic current employee under review.

(c) A request to the Department of Public Safety for a criminal history background information check on an applicant for certification, applicant for employment, nonpublic current employee, and current employee under review shall be accompanied by the following:

(1) Two complete functional sets of fingerprints, properly executed by a criminal justice agency or an individual properly trained in fingerprinting techniques.

(2) In the case of public education employment, written consent from the applicant for certification, certified applicant for public employment, noncertified applicant for public employment, or public current employee under review for the release of criminal history background information to the State Superintendent of Education and a specifically designated representative of the State Department of Education authorized to make the request.

(3) In the case of nonpublic school employment, written consent from the applicant for employment, nonpublic current employee, or current employee under review for the release of criminal history background information to the State Superintendent of Education.

(4) A nonrefundable fee to be paid by the applicant or educational entity requesting the criminal history background information check which shall conform to the guidelines promulgated pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 5119, the National Child Protection Act of 1993, and state law. An applicant for employment shall not be required to pay the fee until the authorized employer is prepared to employ the applicant and request the criminal history background information check. An applicant for certification shall be required to submit two complete acceptable sets of fingerprints and the fee for the criminal history background information check at the time his or her application for certification is submitted to the State Department of Education. If two sets of acceptable fingerprints and the appropriate fee are submitted to the State Department of Education and a criminal history background information check is not performed, the fee shall be refunded to the applicant or educational entity that paid the fee for the criminal history background information check.