TEXAS SCHOOLS RECEIVE FUNDS FOR DRUG TESTS

Six Texas school districts were awarded nearly $800,000 in federal
grants Wednesday for random student drug testing.

Texas is one of 20 states receiving the grants, which total $5.8
million nationwide, from the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy and the U.S. Department of Education.

The grants are intended for programs that test student athletes,
students engaging in competitive, extracurricular or school-sponsored
activities, or students who have opted into the random drug-testing
program, according to a release from the Office of National Drug
Control Policy.

Last year, six other Texas school districts were awarded about
$620,000 for the same program.

Of the 1,030 school districts in Texas, more than 300 conduct random
student drug testing, said Barbara Williams, spokeswoman for the
Texas Association of School Boards.

The Victoria Independent School District, which was awarded $178,290,
applied for the grant in February. The district's Drug Abuse
Prevention Coordinator, Roberto Gonzalez Jr., said the district has
had a random drug-testing program for two years as a prevention
strategy to deter students from drug use.

Drug testing costs amount to $10 to $50 per individual, paid for by
the school district, according to the Office of National Drug Control
Policy's Random Student Drug Testing Web site.

Gonzalez said there has not been a significant decrease in student
drug use since implementation of the program, which primarily targets
high school students. However, he said he thinks the grant will
increase the program's effectiveness.

"The drug testing was the only strategy that we were using, and not
only that, it was at a much lower level because of the funding that
was available," Gonzalez said. "It really wasn't strong enough, or
had the power behind it, that now we can have."

According to the latest U.S. Department of Health and Human Services'
National Survey on Drug Use and Health, taken in 2006, 9.8 percent of
12- to 17-year-old youths were illicit drug users, with the highest
percentage using marijuana.