PORTLAND – Maine is ahead of schedule in its criminal background check program for school employees, according to state officials.

About half of Maine’s 47,000 school employees have been fingerprinted in the past year.

As of last week, 6,347 teachers and administrators, 7,707 teacher’s aides and 6,659 other workers, including bus drivers, cafeteria workers and janitors, have been cleared to work in Maine schools, according to Judith Lucarelli, deputy commissioner of the state Education Department.

When the state fingerprinting law first went into effect last winter, some educators complained that it was an invasion of privacy.

The law is supposed to protect children from sexual predators. The fingerprints are sent electronically to the FBI.