Date: 2007-07-18
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Chairman. I rise today with an amendment to restore funding for the State grants portion of the Safe Drug and Preschool and Communities program to the fiscal year 2007 level. These grants are an essential part of drug prevention and funds essential in effective services. including peer resistance and social skills training. parent education. student assistance. and education about emerging drug needs. This program serves 97 percent of our Nations schools. and it is the only program that provides funding for universal prevention of all of our Nations schoolaged youth. . The success of this program has been documented by numerous States and local agencies. It is extremely effective and has contributed to a 23 percent decline in drug use among youth over the past 5 years. It is important to keep drug prevention as a priority. Historically. when funding for drug prevention is cut. drug use amongst youth surges. This program also provides coordinated school and communitybased efforts to target emerging drug trends among community members. As a result. this program has made significant contributions to reducing methamphetamine and black tar heroin use among schoolaged youth in many States throughout the country. Over the past 2 years. in Dallas. Texas. we have had 23 teens die from overdoses of a black tar hdroin mixture that is called cheese with Tylenol PM. and we work with DEA and local merchants and all around trying to get some handle on it. But through the Safe and DrugFree Schools and Communities program. local antidrug coalitions have partnered with schools throughout to hold prevention. conferences in order to combat this growing epidemic. E 1200 They have targeted both students and parents to raise awareness surrounding this issue and have also held town hall meetings for teenagers. I have held one myself. Without the infrastructure provided by this program. the antidrug coalitions would have little if any access to these students and parents. and the heroin problem would have undoubtedly increased. This issue of emerging drug trends is not isolated. And while drug use among schoolage children has declined. emerging drug trends continue to rise. Weve recently seen new drugs aimed at our children. such as the candyflavored meth and cocaine in many States. including Texas. California. Arkansas. Nevada. and Alabama. Without strong and effective prevention programs. these growing epidemics will have a devastating impact on the educational performance of students nationwide. As youre aware. drug prevention is critical to ensuring the overall academic success of our youthl Studies have found that lower reading and math scores are linked to peer substance abuse. Our Nation cannot afford to see alcohol and drug use or violence .rise above their current levels. I urge my colleagues to vote for this amendment to restore the funding for the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Program to the 2007 level. $46.5 million was reduced. and. Madam Chairman. I do have an offset. The offset for the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Program will come from the Reading First program. The Reading First program has been mired by allegations of financial conflicts of interest and cronyism and is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice. The Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Department of Education have found numerous legal and ethical violations in how Reading First has steered funds toward favored programs. There has been also conflicts of interest in hiring and the promotion of commercial reading materials. This mismanagement has already resulted in the program being cut by more than 60 percent of fiscal year 2008. Just .a few examples of this mismanagement include the Office of Inspector General found that the program administrator had improperly promoted commercial reading programs potentially in violation of Federal law. The Office of Inspector General analyzed hundreds of emails and concluded that the Departments program officials failed to maintain a controlled environment that exemplified management integrity and accountability. I They found that the Madison School District in Wisconsin had substantial data.