PHOENIX -- State lawmakers voted Wednesday to close a loophole in the law that allows schools to hire convicted felons.

 On a voice vote, the Senate gave preliminary approval to a proposal by Sen. Barbara Leff, R-Paradise Valley, to prohibit public schools from hiring non teaching staffers like security guards, janitors, teaching aides and bus drivers who have been found guilty of certain crimes. State law already requires school districts to fingerprint all employees. That process includes checking to see if they have been convicted of any of a number of specifically listed crimes, ranging from murder and rape to misdemeanor drug offenses.

 But Leff discovered that the law, at least for non-teaching personnel, says only that a district (ITALICS) may (ROMAN) refuse to hire or may fire people who have been convicted of those crimes. And she said a recent report by KPHO-TV, the Phoenix CBS affiliate, showed that some districts have, in fact, hired people with criminal records.

 "In every case district officials admitted that they knew about the criminal convictions but hired the employees anyway,'' she said. "Nobody ever would have dreamed that district officials would choose to hire these people anyway knowing about the convictions.''

 The KPHO report said it checked the records of security guards at six Maricopa County schools, finding a dozen workers with convictions including assault, transporting drugs, disorderly conduct and unlawful discharge of a firearm.

 Those last two would not disqualify someone from employment in a non-teaching position under the terms language Leff added to HB 2727. But she said the existing law is so loose that people convicted of far more serious crimes can be employed, including murder, rape, robbery, child abuse, child molesting and kidnapping.

 The list of 24 unacceptable convictions in Leff's proposal also includes misdemeanor drug offenses. That concerned Sen. Jorge Garcia, D-Tucson.

 "Drugs are continuing to destroy our society,'' he said. But Garcia said the fact is that young people do experiment with drugs.

 "I would hate to exclude a kid because he fell into that trap --

 and we're speaking of a misdemeanor -- from future employment,

 good employment, in a school district,'' he said.

 Leff, however, said she sees no need to craft an exemption.

 "We have tremendous problems on our high school campuses and

 middle school campuses and unfortunately sometimes on elementary

 school campuses with drugs,'' she said.

 "I just think that when we send our children to school we expect

 them to be in an environment with adults who understand that

 drugs are illegal, should not be used,'' Leff continued. "And I