Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

I am pleased to appear before you to discuss the President's fiscal year 2005 budget request for the Department's safe schools and citizenship education programs. I was appointed Deputy Under Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools on February 2, 2004. The Office administers drug and violence prevention programs for students in elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education, and related programs that promote the health and well being of students. In addition, the Office administers the Department's programs relating to citizenship education, character education, and correctional education.

The 2005 budget includes $838.9 million for programs administered by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. This total includes $90 million to continue, for a seventh consecutive year, a major initiative that we fund and carry out jointly with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention known as "Safe Schools/Healthy Students." Another area of focus includes a $25 million request for funds to expand the Administration's student drug testing support initiative. Highlights of the 2005 budget request are as follows.

Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities State Grants

For 2005, the Administration requests level funding of $440.9 million for Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) State Grants to provide sustained support for drug and violence prevention programs in school districts and communities throughout the country. Teaching and learning to the high standards demanded in the No Child Left Behind Act requires that our Nation's schools be safe and drug free and that students abstain from the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.

Levels of school crime and violence, and youth alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use show signs of improvement, but remain serious problems. Public concern about school safety also continues, caused in part by fatal shootings in public schools, and, since September 11, 2001, by the overt threat of terrorism that has faced the United States. Funding for SDFSC State Grants addresses these school safety concerns, as well as the President's National Drug Control Strategy goals, which call for significant reductions over the next 3 years in the use of illegal drugs by adolescents.

The Department remains concerned, however, about the effectiveness of the SDFSC State Grants program. Accordingly, beginning this year, we plan to take further steps toward assessing whether the program is making an investment toward positive outcomes through a strategy that uses national survey data on the prevalence of youth drug use and violence, coupled with data on the extent to which recipients of SDFSC State Grant funds are implementing research-based practices, and evaluations using rigorous methodology for measuring the impact of promising interventions.

Mentoring Program

Mentoring relationships between a caring, responsible adult and a youth who is at risk of educational failure, dropping out of school, becoming involved in criminal or delinquent activities, or who simply lacks a positive role model can provide significant benefits for these youth and have great influence on their lives. For example, research has shown that youth who are engaged in mentoring relationships are less likely to engage in violence and drug use, and more likely to attend school and improve academically, and have healthier social relationships. The 2005 budget request includes $100 million for the SDFSC Mentoring Program, which would more than double the number of at-risk youth in middle-school grades served by the program who have access to a mentor to assist them in the successful transition from the elementary to the secondary grades.

Other SDFSC National Programs

Since fiscal year 1999, the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice have collaborated on the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative to provide students, schools, and communities with enhanced comprehensive educational, mental health, social service, law enforcement, and, as appropriate, juvenile justice system services that promote healthy childhood development and prevent violence and alcohol and other drug abuse. These services target the development of the students' social skills and emotional resilience and help establish school environments that are safe, disciplined, and drug-free.

Under this Initiative, the three agencies conduct a joint grant competition where school districts submit a single application for a grant award to support a variety of developmental, educational, and public safety services to implement a Safe Schools/Healthy Students comprehensive plan. The plan must be developed by a partnership consisting of the school district, the local public mental health authority, the local law enforcement agency, family members, students, juvenile justice officials, and community organizations. Also, the plan must address the following six elements: (1) safe school environment; (2) alcohol and other drugs and violence prevention and early intervention programs; (3) school and community mental health preventive and treatment intervention services; (4) early childhood psychosocial and emotional development programs; (5) supporting and connecting schools and communities; and (6) safe school policies.

The 2005 budget request for other Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities National Programs includes $90 million in Department of Education funding for Safe Schools/Healthy Students grants. In addition, the request includes $85 million for other SDFSC National Programs activities that are targeted on other priority areas, including $30 million for initiatives to improve school safety and security, primarily through grants to school districts to strengthen emergency response and crisis management plans; $12 million for grants and technical assistance to support strategies that help recipients of SDFSC State grant funds to collect, analyze, and use data to improve the quality of their drug and violence prevention programs; and $5 million for Project SERV (School Emergency Response to Violence), which provides counseling, mental health, and other education-related services to school districts where the learning environment has been disrupted due to a violent or traumatic crisis.

Student Drug Testing Initiative

Schools need every tool possible at their disposal to ensure that all students attend schools that are safe and drug-free. One of those tools is drug testing. To support schools that wish to implement such programs, the 2005 budget request for other SDFSC National Programs includes $25 million for school-based drug testing grants. Testing as part of a comprehensive prevention strategy can be effective in helping to prevent drug use, since the expectation that they may be tested is enough to make some students stop using drugs—or never start using in the first place. Drug testing can also help ensure that students who are using drugs get the help that they need to stop. Accordingly, drug testing funded by this initiative must be part of a comprehensive drug prevention program in the schools served and provide for the referral to treatment or counseling of students identified as drug users. The projects funded by these grants must also be consistent with recent Supreme Court decisions regarding student drug testing and must ensure confidentiality of results.

Character and Civic Education

Character Education and Civic Education programs support activities to help students to understand, care about, and act on core ethical and citizenship values. Quality Character Education and Civic Education programs help create safe and inclusive learning environments that foster student academic achievement along with increased social responsibility and tolerance for others. The 2005 budget request includes level funding of $24.7 million for Character Education and $28.6 million for Civic Education.

Physical Education

Too many of America's youth are out of shape and overweight, putting them at risk of developing major health problems later in life. The 2005 budget request includes level funding of $69.6 million for the Physical Education program to help students in all grade levels acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to enjoy fit and healthy lives.

Proposed Program Terminations

The Administration requests no funds for the Alcohol Abuse Reduction, Elementary School Counseling, State Grants for Incarcerated Youth Offenders, or Literacy Programs for Prisoners. This policy is consistent with the Administration's overall budget strategy to target resources on the Department's highest priority areas by eliminating or consolidating funding for programs that have achieved their original purpose, that duplicate other programs, or that may be carried out with flexible State formula grant funds.

Conclusion

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I would be happy to respond to any questions you may have.