Reinforcing the No-Use Message, Is Anybody Listening? 1993-94 Drug-Free Schools Final Report.

The Drug-Free Schools and Communities (DFSC) Act of 1986 provides funding to school districts to supplement efforts to eliminate drug and alcohol use by students. In 1993-94 the Austin Independent School District (AISD) received $466,151 from the DFSC grant. Three types of program components were funded--student programs, programs for curriculum and staff development, and support staff and services. Major findings were: (1) AISD students appear to have increasing patterns of lifetime alcohol, tobacco, and other illegal drug use; (2) lower percentages of students reported recent use of alcohol, tobacco, and other illegal drugs than in 1992-93; however, these rates were still higher than in 1991-92; (3) the effect of substance abuse education and prevention programs lessens each year after the year the student participated; (4) DFSC administrators reported that there is no current scope and sequence to AISD's drug education curriculum for pre-kindergarten and grades 7-12; (5) one-third of secondary teachers surveyed believe that student drug and alcohol use are among the top five problems with which their schools must deal, however, only 1 in 10 campus administrators agree; (6) students who have participated in Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) reported a recent substance abuse rate 14 percentage points lower than non-participants; and (7) during 1993-94, 12,454 students in grades 1-6 were exposed to the required drug free schools curriculum. Budget implications and recommendations are addressed. Data is presented through extensive charts and figures. (JBJ)