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PHOENIX — State senators gave preliminary approval Thursday to blocking schools from collecting fingerprint data from their students.

Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, who is pushing SB 1216, fears Arizona schools will be swept up in the nationwide push to force students to identify themselves with fingerprints.

She said lawmakers need to step in now, before youngsters have their prints on file — or at least the digital images — which she fears could eventually be used to steal their identities.

Johnson did agree to amend her measure to allow "finger imaging" if parents provide specific written permission.

One Tucson-area school is already using that technology.

Marana Middle School started using the fingerprint scanner about a year and a half ago in place of student personal identification numbers.

The middle school is the district's "pilot school," and there are no plans to put the scanners in at other schools.

"We don't foresee moving forward with it," said James Remete, Marana's Food Services director.

Mike Smith, lobbyist for the Arizona School Administrators Association, said the technology is taking root as schools look for ways to track students.

He said it is particularly useful in school lunch programs, especially for youngsters who qualify for federally subsidized free or reduced-price meals.

Right now, Smith said, many schools are using a version of credit cards, with a magnetic stripe that can be swiped through a reader.

"Kids lose the darn things," he said. Smith said it also presents problems for schools that have to account for the meals, as it becomes difficult to prove that the student who has the card is the one who is supposed to get fed.

Johnson wants to quash the fingerprinting practice before it spreads. Her fear is not so much how the schools are using the information, but what can be done with it, now and in the future.

She said someone who has a credit card stolen can report that and get a new one.

Johnson predicted, however, that retailers hoping to stop credit-card fraud and make purchases easier for customers will begin allowing them to instead pay with finger scans.

Although the schools keep a digital representation, rather than the actual prints, on file, Johnson said anyone who has access to that information can copy the unique set of numbers assigned to a specific person and possibly use the information to make purchases or steal identity.

And fingerprints, she said, are forever.