Marijuana Policy Project

HILLSBOROUGH —The Board of Education has received a total of $123,444 in federal grant funds to offset the cost of a random student drug-testing plan for the next three years.
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The grant, received this week from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the U.S. Department of Education, will be implemented during the 2008-09 school year and includes $41,148 each year until 2011. Hillsborough Assistant Superintendent Lisa Antunes had applied for the grant in late March.

"My feeling is I am very happy," said Superintendent of Schools Edward Forsthoffer III. "Anytime we can move a program forward without impacting our local residents through taxes is a good thing."

Hillsborough was one of nearly 50 educational entities in 20 states awarded a total of $5.8 million in random student drug-testing grants through the program. Other New Jersey schools included $150,123 to Brick Township and $43,100 for the River Dell Regional Board of Education.

Although the random student drug-testing plan in Hillsborough is estimated to cost $9,000 a year, township school officials had applied for $145,000 in federal grant funding since the grant applicant was required to request a minimum of $100,000.

The testing is modeled after a plan at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Raritan Township. Students are randomly select via computer from among those participating in athletics, extracurricular activities, school clubs and those who drive to school.

Chosen students will have a mouth swab or urine screening as part of the testing procedure. Students also can be selected more than once for testing.

Forsthoffer said Thursday the grant would be used for a variety of things including the salary for the nursing supervisor, personnel costs, travel (two mandatory conferences the project director and district administrator must attend), supplies, contractual, construction and training stipends.

Retrofitting the high school bathroom in the nurse's office to further ensure student privacy and prevent cross-contamination — included in the request for grant funding — was denied because it involves construction not allowed in the grant program, Forsthoffer said.

The grant also cannot be used for drug tests administered for students suspected of drug use; incentives for students to participate in random drug-test programs; drug treatment; and drug prevention curricula or prevention programs. Should a lawsuit occur, the district also would be unable to use the grant money to offset insurance deductibles.

The district also is expected to maintain records on the success of program, such as whether the tests met the program's objectives and performance measures in the evaluation plan, Forsthoffer said.

The district also must submit an annual report detailing its progress toward the standards established for the grant.

More than 4,000 schools nationwide have implemented random student drug-testing following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of school-based random student drug testing in 1995 and 2002.

Since 2003, the Department of Education's grant program has awarded more than $40 million to about 140 educational and health entities to develop, implement, or expand random student drug testing, said Stephen E. Schatz, a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.