DARE LACKS OVERSIGHT

Program's Cost Soars Past $1 Billion With Little Accounting

Even as concern has grown about the effectiveness of America's most popular
anti-drug program, few questions are being asked about how much Drug Abuse
Resistance Education is costing taxpayers.

Or who is accountable for the spending.

Neither the government officials who hand out the money nor DARE executives
themselves can put a definitive price tag on it, but estimates from several
independent experts range from $1 billion to more than $2 billion annually.

And despite questions about whether DARE works, it appears the cost will go
up by millions even as the program is retooled.

DARE, viewed by many people as an arm of law enforcement, actually is
managed by a California nonprofit organization and taught by local
law-enforcement officers. Millions of students, mostly elementary-age,
participate every year in about 80 percent of school districts in Ohio and
the rest of the nation.

Critics say the loose structure of the program -- consisting of local
managers, a combination of funding sources and no central administration --
makes it difficult to hold any single entity accountable and evaluate
whether DARE is worth the money. It also would be difficult to dismantle
the program if that is deemed appropriate.

DARE is funded with money from local, state and federal taxpayers, as well
as private contributors. Much of it pays the salaries of some 30,000 police
officers who teach the program.

Congress has steadily set aside more money for DARE America -- from $1.75
million in 1999 to a proposed $5 million next year.

Records show that as of 2000, the latest year for which numbers are
available, $9.7 million in revenue from taxpayers and private sources went
to DARE America, which oversees the program.

DARE America took in nearly $2.9 million just from royalties on the sale of
T-shirts and other paraphernalia in 2000.

The ability to raise money has allowed the nonprofit organization to pay
its executives generously -- including $276,000 to the company president in
2000.

Experts base their calculations of overall DARE spending on economic
models, combining what they know about government appropriations with
estimates of such costs as the salaries for police officers working in the
classrooms.

Among the experts who say DARE costs at least $1 billion is Joel H. Brown,
a drug-prevention education expert and an associate professor at the
University of Oklahoma.

"The greatest success of DARE may not be in preventing young people from
using drugs, but from its organizational capacity to build and maintain its
own organization," he said.

Stifles other programs

Regardless of the precise cost, "It's a monopoly, and it's a big ticket,"
said Luceille Fleming, director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug
Addiction Services. "There are many effective drug and alcohol programs
that in some schools don't have a chance because DARE is there and
everybody is happy."

The lack of accountability for the program extends to Ohio, where there are
about 650 DARE officers in schools.

The office of Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery is supposed to issue an
annual report "on the progress made in establishing and implementing
drug-abuse resistance education programs," according to an Ohio law that
each year steers millions of state dollars to help police departments pay
DARE officers' salaries.

"These reports shall include an evaluation of the effectiveness of these
programs," the law states.

But Montgomery has not evaluated the programs. She said her office isn't
equipped to carry out such studies, saying it's the responsibility of local
departments to decide whether the program is working for them.

Concerns nationally in recent years that the program isn't sufficiently
interactive, is mainly taught to elementary-school students and is not
reinforced often enough as students grow older have resulted in a revision
of the curriculum, which is being tested throughout the country.

Federal officials sought to retool rather than reinvent or dismantle, they
said, arguing that DARE is deeply entrenched in local police departments
and schools.

"We all said what we need to do is to try to improve the quality of DARE
rather than just say, 'Don't fund it,' " said William Modzeleski, head of
the U.S. Department of Education's division for safe and drug-free schools.
"It's a massive organization."

The result was a $13.7 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation for a University of Akron researcher to overhaul DARE's curriculum.

The changes will be expensive because a goal of the revamping is to see
that it is taught more widely in middle and high schools.

As much as $30 million will be needed to retrain DARE officers nationwide
and provide new materials, said William Alden, DARE America's
Washington-based consultant, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
agent and congressional liaison. DARE America provides workbooks and other
materials free the first year, but then the materials must be purchased
exclusively from DARE America vendors.

But Alden says the motivation for rescuing the DARE program has nothing to
do with pumping up the finances of DARE America. The organization receives
a relatively modest federal subsidy compared with many nonprofit
organizations and saves money by hiring part-time consultants, he said.

"We have a lot of good people working on it (DARE) because they care and
they can make a difference," Alden said. "If you're in it for the money,
you're in the wrong business."

[SIDEBAR]

DARE AT A GLANCE

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program is the nation's largest
school-based drug prevention program, but it's effectiveness has been
criticized and a complex funding web makes it difficult to say how much is
spent on the program. Here are some facts about the program and a breakdown
of federal funding:

Origin: Grew out of cooperative effort between Los Angeles schools and
police, beginning in 1983.

Purpose: Trained police officers provide students with accurate information
about drugs and alcohol and teach ways to resist substance abuse and violence.

Organization: DARE America, the nonprofit corporation that oversees the
DARE curriculum and training, grew out of the original DARE program. DARE
America receives royalties from DARE merchandise, private contributions and
taxpayer funds.

Target audience: An estimated 8 million fifth- and sixth-grade students go
through core DARE class each year. In Ohio, about 80 percent of school
districts use DARE, about the same percentage as nationwide. The program
also is taught in more than 50 countries.

Changes: Because of the questions about the program's effectiveness, the
Institute for Health and Social Policy at the University of Akron is
revamping the DARE curriculum.

FUNDING

Federal funding sources include:

Department of Education: About $472 million in Safe and Drug Free Schools
money distributed to states this year, although how much went to specific
programs such as DARE is not tracked.

Department of Justice: $933,576 in grants directly to DARE programs and
$26.4 million to states over the past three years, although how much went
to DARE programs is not monitored. Congress also earmarks money for DARE
America through the Justice Department, $2.75 million this year.

Department of Defense: $480,000 to DARE programs this year at dependent
schools in the United States and abroad.

In Ohio, a dedicated pot of money goes to local police departments to help
pay DARE officers' salaries. This past school year it totaled about $3.2
million.

Sources: DARE America, Institute for Health and Social Policy, U.S.
Department of Education, U.S Department of Justice, U.S. Department of
Defense, Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio attorney general's office