Calif. schools could lose $35m in anti-drug grants

Published online on Wednesday, Jul. 22, 2009

WASHINGTON - California schools will lose about $35 million a year in anti-drug grants under a big spending bill now set for House approval.

President Barack Obama considers this is a victory for fiscal prudence. Some San Joaquin Valley school officials fear it undermines their fight against drug use and violence. Lawmakers must choose between saving money and boosting schools.

"We have serious problems in this country, and we have to move into an era of self-responsibility," Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, said Wednesday. "It's a good idea for us to get our spending under control."

The funding now proposed for elimination comes through the Education Department's Safe and Drug-Free School state grants program. This year, the program provided $295 million nationwide.

Throughout the San Joaquin Valley, individual school districts have grown accustomed to the money. Fresno Unified School District, for example, received $544,000 this year, while school districts in Modesto and Visalia received more than over $100,000 a year.

"It will actually devastate some of my school district's programs," said Vicki Bauman, prevention director for the Stanislaus County Office of Education.

The anti-drug state grant program supports counseling, classroom activities, safety enhancements and more. It is the largest of 28 programs eliminated in the legislation funding the departments of education and health and human services for Fiscal 2010.

The $160 billion package is scheduled to reach the House floor within a few days.

The bill identifies "program terminations, reductions and other savings" totaling $1.1 billion, including the Safe and Drug-Free School state grant program. California's share of this grant program amounted to about $35 million this year. This money, in turn, is doled out to counties and school districts.

Analysts from the independent RAND Corp and the federal Office of Management and Budget question the grants. They note the current funding formula emphasizes enrollment and poverty rather than drug prevalence or violence. Former President Bush tried unsuccessfully to roll back the program. Congress resisted - with then-Sen. Barack Obama among those opposing the cuts. As president, though, Obama called for elimination of the state grants.

The threatened state grant program is different from a competitive grant program, which will survive. In the past two years, for instance, the Tulare Joint Unified High School District received a $430,851 competitive anti-drug grant.