State auditors checking the records of a random sample of 100 city bus drivers have found that more than a quarter of them had criminal histories.

The audit also found that 26 of the drivers were never checked for child abuse histories -- in Pennsylvania schools, a mandate for all employees and even some volunteers.

In all, the auditors discovered 80 convictions for various offenses among the 100 sampled. Thirty-four of those incidents occurred more than 10 years ago, including one rape and four drug offenses.

In Pennsylvania, it's perfectly legal for school officials to hire a bus driver with certain convictions that are more than five years old -- but that doesn't mean they should, state Auditor General Robert P. Casey Jr. said yesterday in releasing the report.

"No one convicted of rape should be driving a school bus full of children," said Casey, who also said he was disappointed with the school district's initial response to the audit. "The General Assembly needs to look at this law," he said.

A series of problems last year with school bus drivers -- including a February accident that was nearly fatal to an 8-year-old Elliott girl -- prompted Casey to take a closer look at Pittsburgh's staff of 750 drivers, he said.

When his office presented their results to school officials about eight months ago, Casey said, "they were very reluctant to do anything about it," and sent him only a brief response outlining what steps were being taken to remedy the problems.

"This was a serious problem," said Casey, who asked the district to be more "complete" in its response.

Last month, Superintendent John Thompson sent another letter that promised the district would require criminal background checks and physical exams for all bus drivers.

In addition, Thompson said the district had hired a "pupil transportation safety specialist" who would be in charge of seeing that all bus drivers held the proper credentials. Carol Partee began work in September at an annual salary of $37,608, district spokeswoman Pat Crawford said yesterday.

And yesterday, Thompson said a task force will be formed after the beginning of the year to review and update policies.

In a statement, Thompson pointed out that "the school district does not own school buses and the drivers are not employees of the school system. While this does not erase the concerns cited in the audit, I wish to stress that the safety of our children is a top priority for us."

The district contracts with 15 bus carriers, who hire the drivers. The carriers also are supposed to check employees' credentials -- driving history, licensing and other requirements. Crawford said yesterday that Partee now will "monitor on a regular basis" whether the drivers -- newly hired and existing employees -- have the appropriate background checks and credentials.

Crawford said school officials don't know whether the drivers included in the state report were still driving for the district because "we haven't been able to match the names" with the offenses listed in the report.

In their initial response to the audit, school district officials noted that some drivers were hired before criminal history checks and child abuse clearances were required -- 1985 and 1996, respectively. By law, those employees can be "grandfathered" and don't need to undergo any background checks, the district's letter said.

Casey yesterday blamed the city's school board specifically for inaction. "They are the elected officials," he said. "Under Pennsylvania law, responsibility for these issues rests squarely with the school board."

But Casey said he was satisfied with the district's revised response to the audit.

"I feel confident that their plan is a good plan ... on paper it's pretty complete," he said.

Casey said his office would audit the district again but couldn't say precisely when.

Bus driver violations aren't exclusive to any one district, he added. "I hope this will put [other districts] on notice that they have to be very vigilant about the law," he said.