Monday, March 13, 2006

Safe, Drug Free Funds Face Cuts
Schools May Lose Federal Dollars in 2007 Budget

By Daneesha R. Davis
The Winchester Star

When kids and families struggle with substance abuse or other issues, it is a total community issue.

The Safe and Drug Free Schools Program helps school systems provide support for troubled students and families through services such as violence and drug prevention.

Brochures (above) are distributed by CLEAN Inc. to area families. Clare Ruysen (below), CLEAN Inc. educational programs coordinator, displays some more of the organization’s brochures.
(Photos by Jeff Taylor)

But the federal program, which provides for state grants and national programs, has been targeted for elimination in President Bush’s 2007 budget.

The Safe and Drug Free Program is also known as Title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act under the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act.

The money from the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program is administered to the school divisions through the state’s Department of Education.

Judy McKiernan, coordinator of the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program in Winchester Public Schools, said the schools would be directly impacted if funding was cut for the program.

She said it would go into effect for the 2007-2008 school year.

In 2004-2005, area schools received about $76,695 total from the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act, according to information from the VDOE.

The Commonwealth of Virginia received $8,174,905 from the federal program in 2004.

About $6 million of that money was dispersed to 132 local school divisions.

Locally, McKiernan said the money is used for Daniel Morgan Middle School’s violence and bullying prevention program called Keeping the Peace.

It is a program the school system would like to see expanded into the city’s elementary schools.

The kindergarten through fifth-grade health curriculum, “The Great Body Shop,” is a crucial piece for the city’s schools. It covers safety, nutrition, and family life.

A portion of the health curriculum is supplemented by the grant’s money.

“These help our children make healthy decisions,” McKiernan said about the curriculum and programs.

“That’s a life skill they will take with them throughout their adulthood.”

McKiernan said she is not sure, but she said lack of funds would have an impact on the level of services they would be able to provide.

“We have to be more creative in how we offer them,” she said.

McKiernan said she will continue to train staff to be able to sustain their programs. “That’s always been in our forethought,” she said.

McKiernan said she encourages citizens to contact their legislators about the program.

School systems need to actively sustain these types of programs, she said.

Right now, the school system is planning and “keeping an ear to Washington, as well as making local adjustments to ensure we are able to offer these programs,” McKiernan said.

Some of the components of the city schools’ programs are under local funding, such as a partnership with CLEAN Inc. which provides group facilitation and help with substance abuse.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, a $346 million program, was considered ineffective by the government-wide Program Assessment Rating Tool, or PART.

PART’s analysis said the program did not demonstrate effectiveness, and grant funds are spread too thinly to support quality interventions.

But the programs it helps to provide are important because incarceration and treatment are costly emotionally and financially for the community, McKiernan said.

At this point, Richard Plaugher, director of Pupil-Personnel Services for Frederick County Public Schools, said they are moving ahead as though the funds will be there.

“It’s what can we do in the schools and how can we interface with community groups,” Plaugher said.

The money from the grants help pay to train staff or send them to conferences.

The county schools also work with CLEAN Inc.

Student assistance programs also have flourished with the help of the grant money.

“It is teaching kids to resolve conflict in a peaceful way. Hopefully they will find alternatives to violence.”

While Plaugher didn’t want to speculate on what they would have to cut back on or how the county’s programs would be affected, he did acknowledge the benefit of the grant money.

“It is additional funding to support budgets already stretched with lots of other demands.