WASHINGTON -- Clark County hires an average of 2,500 new teachers every year, and almost 5,000 other school employees. But unless Congress changes the law, school authorities cannot run nationwide criminal background checks on job applicants.

The House passed a bill Tuesday that would allow school officials access to national criminal databases. The vote was 415-1.

"We need to make sure the fast-growing states and the balance of those states in this country have as much information as is available because I can't imagine the pain, as a parent myself, of having my child molested by someone in our schools," Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said during debate of the bill he sponsored.

Currently, Nevada school districts can request criminal background information from 26 states that have agreed to share it directly. The Porter bill would allow school officials to obtain similar information from the FBI on states that do not participate for privacy reasons, including California, Massachusetts, New York and Texas.

In testimony before Congress in 2004, Barbara Belak, a human resources official with the Clark County schools, said the district had fired 60 teachers and support staffers during the previous three years for incidents involving drugs, sexual misconduct and violence against children.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said she backed the bill, but she questioned whether it was too broad.

"We want to make sure those who are perpetrators of nonviolent crimes, or individuals charged with petty theft, people who have been out of the system for decades, have the opportunity for employment and rehabilitation," she said.

Porter first introduced the legislation in 2003. It passed the House in March as part of a child safety bill that is being negotiated with the Senate.

Republicans recast the measure and brought it up again as part of a package of bills aimed to appeal to suburban voters.