LET COURTS DECIDE DRUG TESTING CASE

Two Indiana school districts that plan to resume random drug testing of
students next week are jumping the gun. It makes more sense to wait until
the Indiana Supreme Court rules on the issue.

In August, the Indiana Court of Appeals voted unanimously that random
testing of students violated the Indiana Constitution, which has greater
privacy protections than the U.S. Constitution. The appeals court said
Northwestern Schools near Kokomo had illegally subjected students to drug
urinalysis after they asked to participate in sports, join clubs or park
their cars at school.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently upheld the testing of
student athletes, Indiana's Constitution provides greater protection. The
Court of Appeals found that schools must have a "reasonable suspicion" of
drug use to test students.

After the appellate court ruling, 69 of 70 school districts quit testing.
But last month's decision by the state Supreme Court to hear the case led
Brownsburg and Mooresville schools to resume random drug testing. That was
premature.

Reducing drug use among students is, of course, a worthy goal, but resuming
drug tests while the case continues to be litigated puts school districts
that do so on shaky legal ground. If the Court of Appeals ruling is upheld
by the Supreme Court, the testing will have to be halted again. And schools
that restart random testing only invite more lawsuits.

Last week, a federal judge in Indianapolis put a stop to the proposed drug
testing of coaches in the Edinburgh school system until the state Supreme
Court decides the Northwestern case.

It's not unusual for college-bound students to be involved in after-school
activities. Scholarships are won based on student participation in sports,
music and other extracurricular programs. Plaintiffs in the Northwestern
case were participating in the prom committee, National Honor Society and
Fellowship of Christian Athletes, all of which made them subject to random
drug testing. Members of such organizations are hardly typical drug users.

Student drug users ought to be promptly identified and dealt with, but not
at the price of our constitutional freedoms.