PANEL FAVORS ELIMINATING COUNTY FUNDING OF DARE

Communities, Schools Should Pay For Program, Report Says

Waukesha - A task force tentatively agreed Wednesday that the county should
stop financing DARE, a drug and alcohol prevention program that is popular
with law enforcement but whose value has been questioned by others.

Local municipalities and school boards, not Waukesha County, should pay for
DARE, the task force says in a draft report. The task force still could
change its mind before making its official recommendation in August.

"They should step up to the plate and fund it," said task force member and
county Supervisor David Swan of the City of Pewaukee, referring to local
municipalities and school boards.

Task force members disagreed about the effectiveness of the Drug Abuse
Resistance Education program, which some studies show has had little success.

"To be most effective, there has got to be a local buy-in," said Barry
Tuttle, an alcohol, tobacco and other drug specialist for the Mukwonago
School District.

Tuttle said, however, that some communities might not want - or be able -
to pay for the program without the county's help.

"This may be the kiss of death for DARE in some communities," said Tuttle,
a task force member.

But other task force members said many communities already embraced DARE
and would not turn away from the program if the county halted its funding.

"This is telling them to put up or shut up," said Noel Adams, coordinator
of addiction programs for the Menomonee Falls School District. "They
believe this is important. They will pay."

Started in 1983 in Los Angeles, DARE teaches fifth- and sixth-graders the
dangers of drugs and alcohol. The program has been used widely in Waukesha
County for 10 years and is backed by Waukesha County District Attorney Paul
Bucher and Sheriff William Kruziki.

The county pays $40 per student - about $140,000 a year - to police
departments to help pay for DARE.

The task force's recommendation would advise the county to stop those
payments and also cut about $282,000 that the Waukesha County Sheriff's
Department spends to teach an additional 3,500 to 3,800 students annually
at a cost of $75 to $80 per child.

Under its draft recommendation, the task force would recommend that the
county continue funding DARE for the upcoming school year but drop the
program for the 2002-'03 school year.

Kruziki was out of town Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

Previously, the sheriff has said that his department and police departments
will continue to fund DARE, regardless of the panel's recommendation.

County Executive Dan Finley appointed the group in June to scrutinize DARE
funding.

Finley, who is on vacation and could not be reached for comment Wednesday,
previously has said the county is facing the toughest budget-preparation
challenge in more than a decade.

Negative message feared

Bill Beglinger, a Waukesha police officer and president of the Waukesha
County DARE officers association, said he was concerned that the panel
would send the public a negative message with the recommendation, which was
presented in a draft Wednesday. He said local municipalities might infer
from the recommendation that the county does not think DARE is a good program.

"My concern is that the message we send is that DARE does not work,"
Beglinger said.

For that reason, the task force agreed to include in its recommendation a
summary of its opinion, though conflicted, concerning the effectiveness of
DARE.

Several studies have criticized the program's effectiveness. The state
Department of Public Instruction last year reviewed 69 national DARE
studies and said they "show no convincing evidence that DARE alone will
achieve the stated goal of the program."

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

The task force is to make its final recommendation to Finley in August. He
then will consider it when he prepares the budget that he will submit to
the County Board this fall.

If Finley proposes eliminating the DARE program, the move will be hotly
debated by supervisors, said board Chairman James Dwyer of Menomonee Falls.