When kids and families struggle with substance abuse or other issues, it is a total community issue.
The Safe and Drug Free Schools Program helps school systems provide support for troubled students and families through services such as violence and drug prevention.
But the federal program, which provides for state grants and national programs, has been targeted for elimination in President Bush’s 2007 budget.
Judy McKiernan, coordinator of the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program in Winchester Public Schools, said the schools would be directly impacted if funding was cut for the program. . . .
In 2004-2005, area schools received about $76,695 total from the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act, according to information from the VDOE.
The Commonwealth of Virginia received $8,174,905 from the federal program in 2004.
About $6 million of that money was dispersed to 132 local school divisions.
Locally, McKiernan said the money is used for Daniel Morgan Middle School’s violence and bullying prevention program called Keeping the Peace.
It is a program the school system would like to see expanded into the city’s elementary schools.
The kindergarten through fifth-grade health curriculum, “The Great Body Shop,” is a crucial piece for the city’s schools. It covers safety, nutrition, and family life.
A portion of the health curriculum is supplemented by the grant’s money.
“These help our children make healthy decisions,” McKiernan said about the curriculum and programs.
So why cut such a valuable program? The White House's Program Assessment Rating Tool is to blame:
According to the U.S. Department of Education, the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, a $346 million program, was considered ineffective by the government-wide Program Assessment Rating Tool, or PART.
PART’s analysis said the program did not demonstrate effectiveness, and grant funds are spread too thinly to support quality interventions.
But the programs it helps to provide are important because incarceration and treatment are costly emotionally and financially for the community, McKiernan said.