MAYOR BACKS VOUCHERS AND SCHOOL DRUG TESTING

Annual Address Focuses On Education.

Fresno Mayor Alan Autry pushed his education agenda Thursday during
his annual State of the City address, voicing support for school
vouchers for the first time.

The mayor also argued for local control of schools, voluntary drug
testing for students and access to preschool for all children in the
city.

Autry told more than 700 in attendance that he took an oath of office
to serve the city and work for the community's overall health.

"If I retreated from my commitment to educating our kids and standing
for and fighting for a quality education of every child, I would be in
violation of that oath and should be removed from office," Autry said.

Council Member Henry T. Perea praised Autry for being positive, but
said he would have liked more specifics on some of the city's other
pressing issues.

"I would have liked to have heard how we're going to rebuild our Fire
Department or address the regional issues like air quality and job
creation," Perea said.

Council Member Jerry Duncan said the mayor raised interesting points
about Fresno's school systems.

"It was vintage Autry," Duncan said. "He touched on the successes of
the city -- and there's a lot of good things going on -- but he worked
on his passion and that's educating children."

Fresno County schools Superintendent Pete Mehas said he supported most
of Autry's ideas on education, calling the preschool initiative a
"laudatory goal," and agreed more authority needs to be returned to
local districts. But Mehas disagreed about school vouchers, saying
voters in the state and county rejected them at the polls in 2000.
Vouchers are payments to parents to put their children in private schools.

"We're not going to waste our time arguing with him about it because
he can't do anything about it anyway," Mehas said.

In his speech, presented at the Exhibit Hall, Autry praised city
accomplishments, including an agreement to invest $45 million over six
years for streets, sidewalks, curbs and gutters in inner-city
neighborhoods.

"It is one of the wisest, most prudent decisions this city has ever
made," Autry said.

He said the city should be proud of the revitalization -- he called it
rebirth -- of downtown Fresno.

He also promoted a police auditor position that has been added into
his proposed city budget, saying it is needed to "ensure the trust of
our community."

But Autry centered his speech on education, saying "to fail in the
education of our children is to forfeit the future of our city."

Autry pledged to seek state and federal legislation to fund
scholarship vouchers for the most at-risk children. He said some would
label him as a "far-right Republican," but noted that a school-voucher
program has been adopted for Washington, D.C.

Autry restated his support for a voluntary drug-testing program in
schools.

He used his State of the City speech last year to call for drug
testing in schools, but many said compulsory drug testing would be
unconstitutional.

Now, Autry favors a voluntary program, including parental consent,
that's in practice in San Clemente.

"Drug use is growing at an alarming rate in our schools," Autry said.
"We have a responsibility as a united community to address this
reality and not run from it."

Autry also called on government agencies, faith-based groups,
nonprofits and businesses to partner to provide every child access to
"comprehensive, innovative and effective preschool" by Jan. 1, 2007.

"It is a high goal, but so are the stakes," Autry said. "It is a goal
that I know we can attain. I know this because I know what love this
community holds for our children."