Divert Education Funds to Drug War, Bennett Urges

Taking a sharp crack at what he termed California’s “piggy” education lobby, former Secretary of Education William J. Bennett urged Wednesday that the state divert funding guaranteed for educational programs so that it could better afford an extensive agenda of anti-drug programs.

“Why is it decreed from on high that in any year, no matter what else happens, education is entitled to the lion’s share?” Bennett asked.

Rather than devote the entire budget surplus and its lottery profits for education, Bennett said, the state should “reorder its priorities” and begin to allocate more funding to law enforcement to sustain an ambitious drug crackdown.

The blunt criticism came after the drug czar urged a conference of state legislators to follow the lead of the federal government in enacting laws subjecting drug offenders to mandatory prison sentences and enabling authorities to seize the assets of even casual drug users.

Among the initiatives that Bennett asked state legislators to adopt were programs forcing first-time offenders to spend a weekend in jail and requiring convicted criminals to submit to mandatory drug tests as a condition of their probation. The drug czar’s address to the American Legislative Exchange Council here marked his first foray into what he said would be the vital task of persuading state governments to fill a notable void in the war on drugs.

The proposals are to be included in model state legislation that will be given a prominent role in the Bush Administration’s anti-drug strategy, due to be unveiled at the end of the summer. Bennett said Wednesday that he believes that most federal narcotics laws are stringent enough but he said most state laws need to be tightened and better enforced.

In California, Bennett said, the Legislature should seriously reconsider the law that makes possession of less than an ounce of marijuana merely a misdemeanor.

He urged that the law guaranteeing that the state budget surplus and lottery profits be devoted to educational programs be overturned by the Legislature and the governor. Without that constraint, he said, the state could more easily fund new prison construction, judges and prosecutors.

Blaming the law on the power of teacher unions, Bennett, who as education secretary earned the enmity of those groups, said: “I told you folks before about the piggy education lobby.”