ALBANY - The state Department of Education hasn't kept up with background checks on employees working in schools outside New York City, according to a report New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli issued Thursday.

An audit found that 469 background checks weren't completed and had been in process for an average of at least eight months. Of those, 157 workers were hired.

“When it comes to children, safety has to come first,” DiNapoli said. “That did not happen and kids were put at risk. Some background checks were delayed for as long as two years because no one was monitoring their status. In the meantime, some of these individuals were working in our schools with our kids.”

The state education department didn't immediately comment, but responded to the agency by saying they have addressed the problems that led to the delays.

Most of the checks couldn't be completed because of data transmission failures or blurred fingerprint images, not because of past convictions.

Of the 157 working in public schools without completed checks, 30 had some kind of criminal history, but only one should have been denied employment. That Buffalo City School District worker had a conviction for gross sexual imposition.

In that case, the school hired and fired the person eight months before it even asked for a background check.

The Safe Schools Against Violence in Education Act, requires applicants for teaching and most other positions in New York's public schools to be checked for criminal histories, but doesn't specify a deadline. It does say that checks should be completed “promptly.”

Schools are allowed to hire people on a conditional basis before the background checks are complete, if the school board or education department approves.

The audit evaluated a sample of background checks from March 2006 to August 2008.

The education department gets about 50,000 applications a year for background checks.