School Districts Saying ‘No’ to DARE

Efficiency concerns are prompting more North Texas school districts to give up on DARE, a once widely popular drug-abuse prevention program, the Star Telegram reported.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and brings police officers into classrooms to teach a series of lessons on resisting drugs, gangs and violence.

As critics question whether the program has made a positive impact on students, schools are revaluating its value in the classroom.

The Grapevine-Colleyville district is the latest to drop out of DARE, instead opting to extend its own life skills program, the paper reported.

Its opt-out follows the Arlington, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Lake Worth, and Fort Worth school districts.

"We quit using DARE four or five years ago," Fort Worth ISD spokesman Clint Bond told the paper. "Apparently, trying to get the data on its effectiveness proved to be not worth the effort for the program."

However, DARE is responding to critics and making changes in its program to convince other districts like Burleson to approve new contracts.