TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida lawmakers are considering longer jail terms for teachers who take sexual advantage of underage students.

A House committee approved a measure (HB 819) Tuesday that would toughen penalties imposed on teachers and other schoolhouse "authority figures" convicted of sex crimes against students under age 18. An identical bill (SB 1334) has been filed in the Senate.

A Web site that tracks sex scandals involving teachers, SchoolTeacherNews.com, shows at least 464 allegations by students against school teachers across the country in the last year, including at least 16 from Florida.

A number of Florida teachers have recently been convicted of luring underage students into sexual encounters. The bill applies to any school authority figure and any student, regardless of where they attend.

Prison time would be extended by 10 or 15 years or converted to life terms, depending on the crime.

The sponsor, Rep. Kelly Stargel, R-Lakeland, said, "Teachers and other school authorities should be held to a higher standard."

Stargel said it is time to treat teacher predators on the same level as Florida's most serious sex crime offenders.

When Debra LaFave was arrested and convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old student in Marion County, a national spotlight was placed on the issue of teacher-student relationships.

LaFave was sentenced to house arrest, but now some state lawmakers want to add significant penalties for teachers who engage in illegal sexual contact with kids under their supervision.

Alex Abreu has two kids of his own, and he said a tougher law is overdue.

Janet Hughes was sentenced to six years in prison for having sex with a teenage student in Brevard County. Under the proposed law, her sentence could have been closer to 15 or 20 years in prison.

As a parent, Lisa Cody thinks lawmakers should focus more on funding for schools than increasing prison sentences.