Pubdate: Wed, 22 May 2002
Source: Oakville Beaver (CN ON)
Copyright: 2002, Oakville Beaver
Contact:  http://www.haltonsearch.com/hr/ob/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1600
Author: Adrian Ratelle
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n887/a08.html?1249
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

DOES DARE DESERVE FUNDING?

Your front -- page article (How DARE They?) and editorial in the same vein 
in the May 8 issue raise some interesting points.

The budget shortfalls in education due to provincial government cutbacks 
have had a negative effect on our kids' learning experience, especially 
those children who need the most help. At the same time, forcing school 
boards to examine what are essentials versus non-essentials is in itself 
not a bad thing. This is not to be taken as an endorsement of the 
Conservative Party's actions; I ran against the Harris government in the 
last provincial election because of their policies. However, describing 
those policies as "just a lot of short-sighted penny-pinching" serves to 
cloud the issue rather than clarify it.

Spending $80,000 on the DARE program makes sense, if it works. What your 
readers were not told is that there is no evidence that it does.

This has been known for some time before it was alluded to at the Drug 
Education In-service that your editorial mentioned, which I attended as 
chair of Q.E.Park School Council.

So would that $80,000 be better spent on textbooks, software or classroom 
supplies, or do we continue DARE as a public relations exercise?

If the school board chooses to take money from academic curriculum for 
"feel-good" budget items such as DARE, or a "Diversity Officer" who has no 
measurable work to do, then the value of those items should be apparent 
enough to withstand scrutiny at budget time.

Whether the decision is to save or chop, as parents and taxpayers we should 
be able to feel reasonably sure that expenditure decisions are based not on 
image, but on value.

ADRIAN RATELLE
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom