Funding Program for Safe and Drug-Free Schools - Case Study Example

Funding Program for Safe and Drug-Free Schools The purpose of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) is to provide financial assistance to support extracurricular activities needed to keep the elementary and secondary school children out from using drugs and getting involved in school related violence. (OSDFS, 2007) As part of the ‘No Child Left Behind’ project, the U.S. government allocates some fund to improve the safety of the students in schools and communities. Aiming to improve the promotion of a safe school surroundings, the President Bush requested a total budget for the program of Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities amounting to 324,248,000 US dollars. (U.S. Department of Education, 2007a) This amount is considered much lesser as compared to the fiscal year 2007 and 2006 with 568,835,000 US dollars each year. The budget where the funds for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program is part of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) total budget. The total requested fund for the entire NCLB fund totals the amount of US$ 24,474,059,000 for next year. (U.S. Department of Education, 2007a) Sources of Funds The sources of funds that is used to support the total expenditures of the elementary and secondary education in the United States comes mostly from the U.S. federal, state and the local government. (U.S. Department of Education, 2007b) Each year, the president request for a budget for the Safe and Drug-Free School program based on its remaining previous year’s funds and the following year’s plan. Allocation of Funds to Support Program for Safe and Drug-Free Schools The 324,248,000 US dollars program fund for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (U.S. Department of Education, 2007a) will be allocated and distributed to different minor programs such as the Health, Mental Health, Environmental Health and Physical Education Programs (HMHEHPE); the State Program for Drug-Violence Prevention (DVP); the National Programs for Drug-Violence Prevention (DVP); the Character and Civic Education (CCE); the Policy and Cross-Cutting Programs; and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Advisory Committee. (OSDFS, 2007b) The HMHEHPE group handles the provision of financial assistance for activities coming from the Carol M. White Physical Education Program, the Elementary and Secondary School Counceling Discretionary Grants, and the Grants for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health System that promotes the health and well being of elementary and secondary school students and those who belongs to a higher education institutions. The funds that will be used for these programs will be coming from the budget for Discretionary Grants. The allocated fund for the Physical Education Program and the Elementary and Secondary School Counceling is US$ 72,674,000 and US$ 34,650,000 respectively. (Department of Education Fiscal Year 2008 Congress, 2007) The State Program for DVP group administers the programs for the State and local education. This is the same group that handles the responsibility in implementing programs that promotes a Safe and Drug-Free Schools State Programs such as the Governors’ Grant which will be funded from the Formula Grants; the Grants to States to Improve Management of Drug and Violence Prevention Programs which will be funded from the Discretionary Grants; the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Native Hawaiian Program funded by the Discretionary Grants; the State Formula Grants for SEAs as funded by the Formula Grants; and the Grants to Address Youth Violence and other Related Issues for Persistently Dangerous Schools from the Discretionary Grants. The fund allocation for the State Grants in 2007 is US$ 246,500,000. (Department of Education Fiscal Year 2008 Congress, 2007) The National Programs for DVP allocate funds for the Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Models on College Campuses; the School-Based Student Drug-Testing Programs; Discretionary Grants to Reduce Alcohol Abuse; Grant Competition to Prevent High-Risk Drinking and Violent Behavior Among College Students; Mentoring Grants; School Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV); Foundations for Learning Grants Program; and the Challenge Newsletter Grant Competition. The funds for all these programs will be taken from the Discretionary Grants. The total allocated budget for the National Programs is US$ 230,929,000 wherein US$ 149,706,000 will be alloted to support National activities; US$ 32,409,000 will be used to support the Alcohol Abuse Reduction Program; and the US$ 48,814,000 will be used in Mentoring Program. (Department of Education Fiscal Year 2008 Congress, 2007) The CCE group, in-charge of implementing programs that improves the character and civic education of the students handles the Partnerships in Character Education Program; Civic Education; Civic Education to Improve Public Knowledge of and Support for Democracy; We the People; and the Cooperative Civic Education and Economic Education Exchange Program. Similar to the national program for DVP, the funds for all these programs will be taken from the Discretionary Grants. The 2007 annual budget for Character Education Program; We the People; and the Cooperative Civic Education and Economic Education Exchange Program is US$ 24,248,000; US$ 17,039,000; and US$ 12,072,000 respectively. (Department of Education Fiscal Year 2008 Congress, 2007) The Policy and Cross-Cutting Programs group in-charge of coordinating and collaborating the responses from the developing and maintaining of safe and drug-free learning environments handle the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools and the Safe Schools / Healthy Students. These two programs are also funded from the Discretionary Grants. Staff of this group use the fund to promote the Gun-Free Schools Act; Transfer of Disciplinary Records; Pro-Children Act; and the Unsafe School Choice Option. Where the Funds for Safe and Drug-Free Schools Can and Cannot be Used The funds for safe and drug-free school can be used to support extracurricular activities (ECA) that will be promoted by either the State, any local educational agencies or by other public and private non-profit organizations to keep the children away from negative social concerns such as getting involved in the use of drugs or excessive alcohol use, violence prevention, and health promotion of the students. (OSDFS, 2007; OSDFS, 2007b) The Impact of Safe and Drug-Free Schools Funds Keeping the children busy in school and other outside school activities will create not only an economic benefit to the community but also a social benefit. As soon as young children are kept busy in school, there will be a lesser chance that they will get involved in street gangs and other socially unacceptable practices like substance abuse and alcoholism which could only lead them to a higher risk of being involved in youth related crimes. *** End *** References: Department of Education Fiscal Year 2008 Congress. (2007). Retrieved October 24, 2007, from http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget08/08action.pdf OSDFS. (2007). Retrieved October 24, 2007, from Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osdfs/index.html OSDFS. (2007b). Retrieved October 24, 2007, from Programs/Initiatives: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osdfs/programs.html U.S. Department of Education. (2007a, February 5). Retrieved October 6, 2007, from Section II. A. Elementary and Secondary Education: http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget08/summary/edlite-section2a.html U.S. Department of Education. (2007b, February 5). Retrieved October 10, 2007, from Appendix 3: Total Expenditures for Elementary and Secondary Education in U.S.: http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget08/summary/edlite-appendix3.html Read More