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RALEIGH – A state lawmaker is working to keep students safe from sex offenders at school even if the student is no longer considered a minor.

Rep. Bruce Goforth, D-Buncombe County, says he believes school officials who take indecent liberties with students should be placed on the sex offender registry, despite the student's age.

Goforth told a House committee Monday that as the law stands right now, if a teacher, resource officer or coach has a relationship with a legal age high school student, it is often not considered a felony and therefore not an offense that qualifies for the registry.

"There has been a lot of indecent liberties with children around the state and a lot of people have been pleaded down with the ages of 17, 18 and 19 to misdemeanors and they are not required to sign the sex registry," Goforth said.

Education officials say they are on board with anything to keep students safer at schools. But they do have some precautions of their own already in place.

"The state laws of North Carolina now require any local school district to send to us any criminal history of any teacher," says June Atkinson, N.C. superintendent of public instruction.

Atkinson says even if teachers aren't placed on the sex offender registry for their actions with a student, there are steps the state can take to keep them out of the classroom.

"We have the authority to revoke a teacher's license based on any criminal activity, and typically we revoke anywhere from 20 to 35 teacher licenses a year," Atkinson said.

Goforth said he's not sure these steps are enough. He said nothing is too much to keep kids safe.

"As schools go into the hire mode, they need to know who's out there," Goforth said.

This bill passed the judicial committee on a unanimous vote. It is now heading to the House floor for consideration.