DARE FUNDING NOT A COUNTY ROLE

County Executive Dan Finley is taking a pretty gutsy step in proposing to
phase out funding for the popular drug use prevention program DARE.
Educators, law enforcement officials and some parents will fight him on
this issue, as will some county supervisors. Sheriff William Kruziki and
District Attorney Paul Bucher support continued county funding for the
program; Kruziki has gone so far as to threaten to continue the program
regardless of whether there is county funding for it.

All of the opposition is sincere and springs from the best of intentions.
No one wants to see kids using drugs and alcohol; educating kids about
those dangers matters. Started in 1983 in Los Angeles, Drug Abuse
Resistance Education's core curriculum is taught to fifth- and sixth-graders.

The county sends $40 per student, about $140,000 a year, to police
departments to help offset their DARE costs, which are often shared by
municipalities and school districts. In addition, the Sheriff's Department
spends another $282,000 on its own DARE program, which reaches another
3,500 to 3,800 students, at a cost of $75 to $80 per child.

But is that an appropriate expenditure of county money? Or are local
educational programs best funded by school districts and municipalities?
Those were the questions addressed by a task force that Finley appointed
this summer to look at DARE.

The task force did not shrink from its tough assignment; it concluded that
DARE was not a job for the county. Finley is endorsing that recommendation
by proposing to start phasing out the county's participation in the program
in 2002.

That's as it should be. The county could better use that money to fund
other treatment and prevention programs. We hope that the County Board -
after a healthy debate - agrees with the task force and Finley, no matter
the political cost.

Who should fund the program is one question. If supervisors do agree with
the task force, it will then be up to school districts to answer an even
tougher question: Is DARE worth the money? Studies indicate it may not be.
The state Department of Public Instruction last year reviewed 69 national
DARE studies and concluded they "showed no convincing evidence that DARE
alone will achieve the stated goal of the program."

Nonetheless, 62% of Wisconsin parents, educators and alcohol and drug abuse
counselors interviewed for the DPI study said DARE was meeting its
objectives, and the study concluded that DARE had many strengths, including
increasing students' knowledge about alcohol and drug risks and improving
their relationships with law enforcement.

On the other hand, a growing number of governments and school districts are
wondering about DARE and withdrawing support for the program while trying
to find a suitable substitute. It would not be surprising if Waukesha
districts started doing the same thing.