DEMOCRATIC HOPEFUL DAVIS CALLS FOR STUDENT DRUG TESTS

Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis yesterday proposed voluntary drug tests for
California high school pupils -- if both they and their parents agree.

Davis, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, told a
luncheon audience that the tests would be ``more preventative than
punitive.''

``Faced with the very real prospect of getting caught, many kids will
simply choose not to try them -- or if they are using them, to quit,'' he
said.

``To deal with the demand side of the scourge of drugs in our classrooms,''
he said, ``we must adopt a new program of random drug testing to catch the
kids using drugs, and deter the rest from starting.''

He made the proposal in a sparsely attended speech to the business-oriented
Comstock Club that managed to combine two of the year's hottest political
issues -- crime and schools.

Davis said he based his testing proposal on a new program in Dade County,
Fla., begun recently to test about 5,000 of the area's high school
students.

The Florida policy has drawn national attention, and criticism from those
who contend it violates Fourth Amendment rights protecting citizens against
searches without probable cause.

Davis said parents and students would have to agree in advance to the
tests. Results would be given to parents, not school administrators. ``Drug
testing will provide parents with an unequivocal way to detect any
substance abuse by their child,'' he said.

In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schools could use random drug
tests on student athletes. Davis said such tests had proven valuable in
California.

The candidate said he wanted to spend $1 million for an experimental
program at five high schools, with each school getting $200,000 for the
tests.

He said testing would lower the highest drug usage rates among high school
students in 10 years, he said.

``Fully 25 percent of high school students . . . report that they use
illicit drugs at least once a month. Among 12th-graders, 42 percent report
having used some sort of illegal drug in just the past 12 months,'' he
said.

As he campaigns, Davis insists, ``I do not believe government can do
everything for everybody.'' Nonetheless, he has a lengthy agenda that would
impose government rules on education as never before in this state.

Davis has already proposed that students, from kindergarten through 12th
grade, be required to do a certain amount of homework each night.

Kindergartners would do 15 minutes, while 12th graders would spend 2 1/2
hours with the books. The idea has gotten a chilly reception from the
powerful California Teachers Association.

Davis also wants mandatory summer school for pupils who need remedial math
and reading, and contracts between parents and schools that detail
responsibilities.

More recently, Davis has suggested that state set aside $3 billion during
the next five years to purchase textbooks, and that every school district
hire a chief financial officer to prevent fiscal mismanagement.

In his speech, Davis also said he would seek longer prison terms to anyone
convicted of selling drugs to children. For those who sold drugs to
children younger than 10, he would seek life in prison, without possibility
of parole.

Second offenses for selling to older children would bring a term of 20
years to life.

)1998 San Francisco Chronicle