BUSH PLAN COULD ENCOURAGE MORE SCHOOLS TO DRUG-TEST

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's call for a tenfold increase in federal
spending for drug testing at schools could boost the number of schools that
conduct random tests of students, experts say.

More schools are likely to apply for drug-testing money if Congress
approves Bush's plan, says Julie Underwood, general counsel for the
National School Boards Association. The cost of drug testing has deterred
some districts.

"When you are trying to choose between drug testing and buying textbooks,
many schools choose textbooks," she says.

Three House Republicans, Reps. John Peterson of Pennsylvania, Mark Souder
of Indiana and Tom Osborne of Nebraska, have introduced a bill to carry out
Bush's plan.

It is not known exactly how many students are required to have such testing
today. Experts say the numbers are small.

A study by University of Michigan researchers, published in the April 2003
Journal of School Health, estimated that nearly one in five of the nation's
secondary schools used some form of drug testing. But most schools do not
conduct random screenings and instead test only when they have evidence or
suspicions of drug use, the researchers found.

Last year, the federal government had a $2 million budget to help school
districts pay for random testing, says Brian Blake, spokesman for the White
House Office of National Drug Policy Control. Eight states received grants.

Opponents say there's little concrete evidence that testing deters drug
use. And legal battles continue to rage over efforts to expand random
testing and whether it infringes on student privacy.

One of the few large-scale scientific studies found nearly identical rates
of drug use in schools that use testing and those that don't. But the
University of Michigan study did not focus entirely on random tests.

Opponents of Bush's proposal to make $25 million available to schools next
year for drug testing, which he announced in his State of the Union speech
last week, have seized on the study's findings to argue that the plan is a
waste of money. And they say random testing, which generally is limited to
athletes and students in extracurricular programs, targets kids who are
unlikely to use drugs in the first place and could discourage participation
in school activities.

"What drug testing can actually do is to drive students away from
extracurricular activities if they fear drug testing," says Marsha
Rosenbaum, director of Safety First, a group opposed to such testing.

But Bush administration officials describe testing as a powerful tool in
the fight against drug addiction and point to an 11% drop in drug use among
students in grades 8, 10 and 12 in the past two years.

John Walters, who oversees the White House's drug-fighting efforts, says he
sees the difference when he visits schools that conduct testing. "You talk
to kids who feel safer," he says.

Too many people "are in denial about the scope of this problem," Walters
says. "You can't say that student athletes have lower rates of use than
other kids. We are not going to watch kids be victims."

The Supreme Court gave schools wider drug-testing powers in 2002, approving
random testing of high school students involved in any competitive
extracurricular activities, from football to debate. In the 5-4 ruling,
justices said schools' responsibility for kids outweigh students' rights to
privacy.

But legal battles continue around the country over efforts to expand such
testing.

In a Pennsylvania case, two sisters sued the Delaware Valley School
District in Milford over its policy requiring students to agree to drug
testing if they participate in extracurricular activities or seek permits
to park on campus.

The lawsuit also argues that the state's constitution provides even more
privacy protections than the U.S. Constitution and should govern the
conduct of schools.

The district's policy was sparked by a 1998 case of heroin possession at
one of the district's schools, Superintendent Candis Finan said.

"The community demanded to know, 'What are you going to do to protect our
children from being dealt heroin in schools?' " she says.

The case is pending.

Lawsuits challenging drug tests in schools also have been filed in
Arkansas, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and
Washington, says the Drug Policy Alliance, which opposes testing.

Paul Houston of the American Association of School Administrators says
testing often is an expensive venture and providing treatment is an even
bigger obstacle.

"It was a great political sound bite," he says of Bush's proposal. "But in
terms of impact, it probably isn't going to have much."