PANEL TO ASSESS MERITS OF DARE

Questions Raised About Group's Ability To Be Impartial

County Executive Dan Finley Wednesday named a task force to review
the popular but controversial DARE program, which teaches youngsters
about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

"There's been a lot of criticism against the DARE program, and I want
to take an objective, academic look at DARE to see if Waukesha County
should continue it, eliminate it or change it in some way," Finley
said.

Started in 1983 in Los Angeles, Drug Abuse Resistance Education's
core curriculum is taught to fifth- and sixth-graders. The program
emphasizes the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

The program has been used widely in Waukesha County schools for 10
years and has the strong support of District Attorney Paul Bucher and
Sheriff William Kruziki.

Others, including some county supervisors, are less enthusiastic about DARE.

"We have a County Board that clearly has some people who do not
support DARE, and we have a sheriff and a district attorney who
enthusiastically support it," Finley said. "It's time to take a
careful look at DARE."

Although Finley last week said he is facing his "most challenging
budget in over a decade" for 2002, he noted Wednesday that he has
already targeted the program for cuts.

DARE is "a large financial commitment for the county," Finley said.
"Irrespective of other budget challenges, it demands a thorough
review.

"When we're making that kind of investment, it's appropriate to
review the effectiveness of the investment."

Broad Review

Finley said that he has asked the task force to review existing
studies on the effectiveness of DARE and make a recommendation by the
end of summer about the program's future. His 2002 budget proposal is
due to the County Board in late September.

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.

The full cost of the program, however, is unknown, because some
police departments don't itemize their DARE expenditures and there is
no central clearinghouse that tracks all the contributions from
school districts and other local sources.

Finley stressed that he is "not commissioning a new study" on the
effectiveness of DARE.

"There's been more than enough written about DARE," he said. "We need
to review it and perhaps hear from the authors of some of those
studies."

Finley said it will be the challenge of the task force to "weed
through" the conflicting studies and draw their own conclusions.

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.

The DPI study also concluded that DARE had many strengths, including
increasing students' knowledge about alcohol and drug risks and
improving their relationships with law enforcement.

DARE is taught in about three-quarters of the state's 426 school districts.

Serving on Finley's task force will be: Noel Adams, alcohol and other
drug abuse program coordinator for the Menomonee Falls School
District; Barry Tuttle, alcohol, tobacco and other drug program
coordinator for the Mukwonago School District; Sharon Wisnewski,
alcohol and other drug abuse coordinator for the Cooperative
Educational Service Agency; Bill Beglinger, a Waukesha police officer
and president of the Waukesha County DARE officers association; and
an as-yet-unnamed county supervisor.

Finley said he wants to assemble a task force that will be "as
neutral as possible" about the subject. He said, however, that it is
important that law enforcement be represented on the task force.

Sheriff Backs Program

Kruziki said he welcomes the review.

"I know it's a nagging issue at budget time every year," Kruziki
said. "What I don't want to do is go into my budget (review) and have
that debate" with county supervisors who oppose the program. "I
welcome anything that will settle down the naysayers.

"The bottom line is law enforcement throughout the county support it.
Unless they come up with something better, I'm still going to support
it, and I'm still going to do DARE."

County Supervisor Walter Kolb of the Town of Waukesha has often
fought funding for DARE. On Wednesday, he said the program "is not
doing what it was intended to do."

Kolb said appointing an unbiased task force to review the program
would be difficult because "everybody has their own view."

When told of the members on the committee, Kolb laughed and said, "I
think you can judge what the outcome is going to be."

"There's nobody on there that's going to be neutral," Kolb said,
noting that DARE is widely supported by the school districts and law
enforcement in the county.