DARE ON ROPES IN FUNDING FIGHT

The Illinois State Police, the only agency authorized to train police
officers in the state's most widely used school-based drug prevention
program, has no money to pay for training or materials for DARE's new
curriculum.

The survival of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education training program
depends on the governor's office approving funding, which ran out Oct.
1, said Master Sgt. Lincoln Hampton.

"We have no money," he said.

Last year, former Gov. George Ryan earmarked $600,000 for DARE, down
from $1.9 million the previous year, Illinois DARE officials said. For
the first time, because of the cuts, state police were forced to
charge local governments for DARE workbooks.

DARE officials predicted half the schools and police departments in
the state would drop the program by year's end if money did not
materialize.

Although some communities, including Crystal Lake, Evanston and
Naperville, have replaced DARE with a different drug-prevention
program, DARE has not experienced the predicted widespread decline.
Some, including Carpentersville, have drastically cut funding. Other
DARE programs are thriving, including in the Chicago Police
Department, which graduated 25 more DARE officers this summer,
Illinois DARE officials said.

"DARE is alive and well," said Christy Pace, a Palos Heights police
officer and president of the Illinois DARE Officers Association. "My
fear is that smaller departments won't be able to make it if the
state's not paying for training and workbooks. Since Sept. 11, many
departments are putting more officers on the street and can't afford a
full-time DARE officer in the classroom."

DARE, founded in 1983, was hailed by backers as a major advance in the
war on drugs. It put a police officer in the school as a positive role
model. It became a household name and today reaches 26 million U.S.
children a year, officials said.

The majority of costs associated with DARE programs are shouldered by
local police departments, which in tough economic times makes the
program difficult to sustain, officials said.

In the past, police departments have counted on the state police to
help offset costs by providing free training and workbooks, Pace said.
Los Angeles-based DARE America has not offered to help pay for local
programs, officials said.

DARE America spokesman Ralph Lochridge said program officials have
tried to be more flexible. For the first time in the history of the
program, local departments offering DARE can choose what grades to
teach, he said. DARE America has also given local programs until next
year to start teaching the new curriculum, Lochridge said.

In Carpentersville, where the Village Board has cut DARE funding to
$3,500 from $5,000, the money is barely enough for materials and
training for its 5th-grade DARE pupils, said Sgt. Jim Kruger. The
department, which pays the salary of one full-time DARE officer, had
to raise an additional $3,000 to offer the program during the school
year, he said.

"We want to keep a presence in schools with drug-education efforts,"
Kruger said, "so we're in the midst of planning possible alternatives
to DARE."

Last week, the Kane County Board declined Sheriff Ken Ramsey's request
for $15,000 for the DARE program. County board member John Noverini
said Wednesday that the board does not want to pay for a program that
research shows does not work.

"At best, the program is not effective. At worst, it promotes drug
use," he said. "If we finance the program, we're doing a disservice to
our kids."

Some communities that discontinued the DARE program this year did so
not because of financial concerns, but because the program did not
meet their communities' needs, officials said.

Naperville's alternative, which will be launched in fall 2004, will
emphasize character, self-esteem, respect and personal responsibility
in making decisions about drug use and gangs, said Sgt. Joel Truemper.

After decades of teaching DARE at elementary schools, Evanston/Skokie
School District 65 this year worked with the Evanston Police
Department to launch Project ALERT, a drug-prevention program endorsed
by the U.S. Department of Education, officials said.

A coalition of community groups last month received a $100,000 grant
from the Department of Justice to help provide the program to 750 6th
graders in the district, said Sara Christensen, community program
development coordinator for PEER Services, a community-based
non-profit substance abuse program.

"We looked at alternatives to DARE, in part because the program is
ineffective and because there's a lot of fluctuation in funding at the
police department. But more important, we were looking for a program
that was sustainable," Christensen said.

Project ALERT, which is targeted to middle-grade pupils, is based on
the understanding that drug use is a social phenomenon--a counter to
pro-drug messages in the media and poor role models, officials said.

In Crystal Lake last year, School District 47 replaced DARE with a
program for kindergartners through 6th-graders called "The Great Body
Shop," which emphasizes mental and physical wellness in combating drug
abuse and violence, said Marge Nygren, the district's coordinator of
special projects.

"It's not that we didn't appreciate DARE, it's just that we wanted a
program that would provide a broader scope for our students," she said.

Despite the increase in alternative drug-prevention programs in the
schools, DARE's Pace is optimistic the program will survive.

"You won't find a more fiercely devoted bunch than DARE officers," she
said. "If we save just one child, it makes it all worthwhile."