SAFE, DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS PROGRAMS FACING CUTS?

Morgan County public schools -- and all school districts in Colorado
- -- stand to lose 20 percent of their federal grant money for
programs for safe and drug-free schools in the 2006-07 school year.

The proposed cut statewide is about $91 million, said Janelle
Krueger, principal consultant on prevention initiatives for the
Colorado Department of Education.

The congressional conference committee reached an agreement on the
budget of $350 million. With a mandated one percent recision,
Krueger said, the funding level would be $346.5 million. President
Bush's budget had called for no funding, which would eliminate the program.

The funding bill is awaiting the president's signature, after which
the federal Department of Education would allocate funds.

Last year's funding was $437 million.

School districts use the money for specialized programs focusing on
drug and violence prevention; some use it to help pay people working
in such programs. Fort Morgan, for example, uses some of the money
for part-time family liaison people at Baker Central School, Fort
Morgan Middle School and Lincoln High School.

If grants are used to pay people, said Joy Perry, Fort Morgan
director of instructional support, programs are difficult to
maintain as salaries and benefits need to go up while grants are
being reduced.

Fort Morgan received nearly $20,000 for 2005-06, Brush about $4,500,
Wiggins about $3,800 and Weldon Valley about $1,100.

While Perry does not anticipate having to eliminate any positions,
some hours could be reduced, and some special programs such as Red
Ribbon Week anti-drug activities could be cut.

Weldon Valley School Superintendent Bob Petterson said the funding
reductions would mean having to cut programs or come up with money
from the general fund, "which is stretched anyway."