The Associated Press has had a good investigative project going. The AP is tracking how many teachers are accused of sexual misconduct but also showing that, if they try to teach again, it isn't always easy for the next school district, perhaps in another state, to know the complete background.

The AP says 2,570 teachers were accused of sexual misconduct in one form or another from 2001-2005. That's a small fraction of the estimated 3 million teachers in the U.S. overall. But molesting a student can do a lifetime of damage. It's a terrible offense.

The AP asked all 50 states for records during its investigation and the only state to decline providing records was Maine, citing a 1913 law protecting teacher confidentiality. Gov. John Baldacci now says he is working to close Maine's disclosure "loophhole" (AP's word, not Baldacci's or mine).

Just so you readers know, there are states out there — Florida is one — where public-employee personnel records are just that, public. You can ask for files about their promotions, evaluations and when they got into trouble. Then, you can sit down and read them.

What's more, if a school superintendent's job opens and 80 people apply — you can read about all 80 of them. It's all public. You might think that would cause people to refrain from applying but it doesn't seem to. All it means is people tell their current employers something like, "I'm applying for that job in Palm Beach. Doesn't mean I'll get it or would take it if offered, but I'm interested enough to apply and thought you should know."

Former Portland Police Chief Mike Chitwood applied for a chief's job in Florida once, in Pompano Beach, I believe. It was public, and the Portland Press Herald wrote about it. He didn't get the job — he may have pulled out — and no one held it against him, either.

In Maine, most of what I describe above involving personnel records, if not all of it, would be confidential.

Maine leaders commonly think about protecting the employees' privacy first but that can come at a cost. It can make it difficult for future public employers (schools, municipalities, etc.) to know as much about job candidates as possible. Maine has had cases of teachers involved in sexual misconduct who had done this sort of thing before, and of town clerks who misappopriated funds who had been in trouble before. Would more openness have helped? Hard to say, but it may have.

Journalists do push for government openness and, yes, there is a self-serving element to that. We'd sure like to know what gets said in "executive session" when town councils draw the curtain to talk about a teacher being suspended or hurriedly resigning. We think parents, students and taxypayers would be interested too.

To my mind, opening more records involving government employees would help the public and the taxpayer too. It will be interesting to see what Baldacci does in response to the AP series.