WRONG TO BEND RULES TO FUND ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM

Legislature Skirted Bidding Process, Abused Taxpayers

In 2001, the federal government stopped funding Rock In Prevention.
The feds decided the anti-drug charity didn't meet standards for
effective drug-prevention programs. That should have been a clue to
Iowa lawmakers to question giving other public dollars to the organization.

Apparently state legislators are clueless.

They agreed to give the group $600,000, courtesy of the taxpayers.
Iowans are paying for rock 'n' roll concerts for schoolchildren and
for the group's compact discs. And there's no evidence the program
reduces drug use by the children who bring the CDs home in their backpacks.

Sound questionable? Well, there's more.

Rock In Prevention bypassed the normal bidding process for publicly
funded programs. Instead, lawmakers specifically appropriated money
for a non-specific drug-prevention program that uses music - language
crafted to funnel money to Rock In Prevention. When the Iowa
Department of Public Health tried to allow other programs to compete
for the money, lawmakers put a stop to it by writing a letter to the
department. They also objected to the department's request for
research on the program.

Rock In Prevention held out its hand. Friends in the Statehouse
opened the public's checkbook and delivered the bucks. No requirement
for proof the program works. No other groups to compete with for the
money. And no questions asked.

Lawmakers should be ashamed of themselves.

Taxpayers should be furious.

Here are a few reasons why:

Across Iowa, public schools don't have enough counselors to help kids
through difficult times. These may be the same troubled kids who go
on to use drugs. In some schools, students don't have enough exposure
to arts, which might give them a creative outlet to cope with
problems. In others, class sizes are too large, which gives kids less
individual time with teachers. And too few high schools offer
college-prep courses, to help kids get on track for a better future.

Lawmakers underfund the basics of education with one hand and dole
out money exclusively to an unproven program with the other.

Rock In Prevention is well-intentioned and popular with kids. But
good intentions shouldn't be enough to give a person or program
access to public coffers. And no one should gain that access without
going through the proper channels of bidding for that money.