Funding loss hampers anti-drug education push

MATT NEVALA

July 03, 2008 at 12:01PM AKST

The 2008-09 Alaska high school sports calendar kicks off in earnest later this month with the start of football, football cheerleading and tennis seasons.

Those athletes and students involved in all extracurricular activities must adhere to the Alaska School Activities Association’s new citizenship policy, a substance abuse education and prevention program called “Play for Keeps” that features rules, penalties and educational tools.

But one of Gov. Sarah Palin’s vetoed items from the state capital budget has ASAA scrambling to create modified versions of the program’s educational aspects.

In May, Palin vetoed a $325,000 allocation for “Play for Keeps” as part of $268 million in cuts to the capital budget.

ASAA Executive Director Gary Matthews said the money would have been used to create and distribute DVDs and Web-based tutorials for students, parents and coaches.

ASAA is the nonprofit governing body for Alaska high school sports and activities. Its board of directors adopted “Play for Keeps” in April to combat student drug, alcohol and tobacco use with a uniform set of statewide rules and regulations.

“The program is going ahead with what I call Plan B,” Matthews said. “We’re going to do what we can do, and that’s all we can do.

“No one I’ve talked to can believe such a small amount of money got vetoed. In a $2.5 billion budget, $325,000 is a fly speck on the wall. I told people we had the governor’s support — it was no secret. We discussed it as the state basketball tournament (in March) right in a hallway at Sullivan Arena.”

An attempt to reach Palin’s office for comment on the ASAA veto was unsuccessful. In a list of vetoed items, the $325,000 allocation was deemed a “lower funding priority”.

Matthews, ASAA’s executive director for 15 years, said he called Palin the day after the vetoes were announced and talked to her husband, Todd. Matthews also wrote Palin a June 9 letter reminding her of the promised support and asking for some explanation about the veto.

In an interview last week, he said he hasn’t heard back from anyone.

“At some point, there is an expectation from your leaders that they at least be responsive,” Matthews said. “It’s not like ASAA is some fly-by-night freak-o organization. We’ve been in Alaska for 52 years.”

Matthews said ASAA operates with an annual budget of about $1.5 million. Much of its money is collected through grants, corporate donors and proceeds from ticket and merchandise sales at state championship events.

Other agencies that had agreed to donate grant money to ASAA for the substance abuse education and prevention program are having second thoughts because of the veto, Matthews said.

But Matthews said ASAA will carry on.

The state money would have been used for what ASAA calls the educational component of “Play for Keeps.” The component includes DVDs, software and Web-based training programs and counseling ranging from pre-participation orientation sessions prior to each season to remedial programs for first- through third-time offenders.

The program penalties range from a 10-day suspension from activities for a first offense to barring a student’s participation for the duration of high school under a fourth offense. Matthews said much of the cost is in licensing fees for computer programs in general and in ASAA’s 200-plus member schools. He said the educational components of “Play for Keeps” are integral.

“The punishments are there, that’s part of the program,” Matthews said. “But they are not by any means the most important thing. We’re trying to change kids’ behaviors.”

ASAA points to a 2006 report by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that documented drug and alcohol use by teens in every state from 2002 to 2004.

Alaska ranked first with 11.8 percent of those ages 12 and older reporting they’d used an illegal drug in the past month.

Matthews said ASAA had funds to create the pre-participation and first-offense educational components.

The pre-participation orientation consists of a short video presentation designed to encourage a chemical-free lifestyle and the signing of a “Play for Keeps” acknowledgement form by the student and his or her parent or legal guardian.

Individual schools will keep track of these forms, program offenders and other eligibility issues as they do already through ASAA’s master eligibility lists and databases.

“We don’t have the money for a second-offense educational component,” Matthews said. “We’ll stop at the first offense if the money isn’t forthcoming and come up with some alternative method, maybe some pencil and paper stuff or community service.”

Matthews said it could be years before “Play for Keeps” is fully implemented as intended. He said ASAA will ask for sponsorship help with the program and will likely lobby the state Legislature for funding as soon as possible.

“The (now vetoed) funding was supposed to be a one-time deal,” Matthews said. “But it looks like we’ve got some of our own educational objectives because we didn’t do a good enough job educating people on the importance of (the program).”

Matt Nevala can be reached at (907) 348-2480 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 480.